Miyoko's Endeavors
by Chocogirl24
Summary: Miyoko may be a genius, but she has no clue when it comes to boys. Frankly, as the captain of Seigaku's girl's tennis team, she doesn't have time for them. However, Ryuzaki Sumire, aware of Miyoko's long term crush on Tezuka has given herself the task to get this unlikely pair together. And boy will she need some help. TezukaxOC, Rated T for language
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! This is my first Prince of Tennis fanfiction so sorry if it's kinda bad :P There WILL be some romance along the way. NO love triangles or any of that shit. It'll most likely be Tezuka X OC. Anyways I hope you like (:**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OC. And also a lot of the events happening are copied from the anime so…*sigh***

_Italics: _Thoughts

**Summary: Miyoko may be a genius, but she has no clue when it comes to boys. Frankly, as the captain of the Seigaku's girl's tennis team, she doesn't have time for them. However, Ryuzaki Sumire, aware of Miyoko's long term crush on Tezuka has given herself the task to get this unlikely pair together. And boy will she need some help. TezukaxOC Rated T for language**

"Hey, um, Ryuzaki-sensei?"

"Yes, Miyoko-chan?"

"Why did you kidnap me and why are we heading towards the train station?"

Hamada Miyoko was not amused. When Ryuzaki Sumire, coach for both the girl's and boy's tennis team, knocked on Miyoko's door this morning claiming there was someone she needed to see, Miyoko knew that she was up to something stupid. However, throughout her two years in Seishun Academy, or Seigaku for short, Miyoko had learned not to question Ryuzaki-sensei's crazy antics and just go with it.

So here she was being dragged to the train station at this ungodly hour.

"Silly, I didn't kidnap you! Stop being so dramatic. We have to pick up my granddaughter before we head to Kakinokizaka Tennis Garden," Ryuzaki-sensei answered.

"_Of course Ryuzaki-sensei would kidnap me just to take me to a stupid tennis tournament. Should have seen this coming."_

"What's so special about this guy anyways? He can't be that great," Miyoko mumbled.

"It's a secret!" Ryuzaki-sensei said putting her hand on Miyoko's head and ruffling her short black hair around. Miyoko pouted and roughly shoved Ryuzaki-sensei's hand away.

"Damn it Ryuzaki-sensei, I told you to stop doing that! It makes me feel small," Miyoko muttered. Ryuzaki-sensei let out a heartfelt laugh.

"Well, you are pretty small," Ryuzaki-sensei teased trying to muffle her laughter with her hand when she realized that Miyoko was letting off a dark, intimidating aura.

_Seriously, 150 cm isn't THAT short!_

"You're lucky that your old, Baa-san, or I would've punched you into next week," Miyoko said, lifting an 'intimidating' fist in Ryuzaki-sensei's direction with a few veins popping on her forehead.

"Haha, like you could…AND WHO YOU CALLING OLD, YOU BRAT?!" Ryuzaki-sensei shouted while pointing an accusing finger at Miyoko. "Whatever, let's hurry up and get to the train station. We are already late as it is."

"When were we supposed to meet your granddaughter anyways?" Miyoko asked trying to fix her hair.

"Hmm, about 20 minutes ago."

"WHAT? You're always late you old hag, what if she gets kidnapped?!" Miyoko shouted at her sensei/coach.

"I'm not _always _late and she'll be fine, trust me…AND WHO YOU CALLING AN OLD HAG YOU INCOMPETENT LITTLE MIDGET?!" 

*******BREAK*******

It took them 10 minutes to reach the damn train station. Miyoko was still grumbling nonsense about her height under her breath as they walked in. Ryuzaki-sensei looked around before finally spotting her granddaughter.

Miyoko looked at the young girl carefully. She has two brown braided pigtails running down her back and seemed to be at least a couple years younger than Miyoko.

_How could the monster who is Ryuzaki-sensei have such a cute granddaughter? _She felt a hand slap the back of her head.

"OWW!" Miyoko said while she started rubbing the sore spot.

"I heard that you brat," Ryuzaki-sensei growled. Miyoko sheepishly rubbed the back of her head and mustered up the most innocent expression she could.

"H-Hahaha, did I say that out loud? What I m-meant was that you have such a c-c-cute granddaughter. S-She must have inherited y-your looks hahaha," Miyoko stuttered out. Ryuzaki-sensei gave a low chuckle.

"Good," she stated simply and walked towards her granddaughter.

"Ah, Obaa-chan you're late! You're 30 minutes late!" the cute girl exclaimed as they walked up to her.

"Sorry Sakuno! I was picking up Miyoko from her house," Ryuzaki-sensei said. The young girl looked towards Miyoko, finally acknowledging her presence. Miyoko gave Sakuno a small nod in greeting.

"Ohayō, my name is Hamada Miyoko. Nice to meet you," Miyoko says bowing slightly.

"Ryuzaki Sakuno, nice to meet you too Miyoko-senpai. Obaa-chan always talks about you," Sakuno says with a bow. Miyoko quirked an eyebrow at Ryuzaki-sensei wondering what exactly she told Sakuno about her.

"Anyways we should be going," Ryuzaki-sensei says as she leads us towards the North exit. Miyoko starts to follow her but Sakuno speaks before they were able to get anywhere.

"That's the north exit…" Sakuno says a little warily. Ryuzaki-sensei lifts her eyebrow and points towards the exit.

"What are you saying? Kakinokizaka Tennis Garden is just ahead of the north exit. What are you doing? Let's hurry," Ryuzaki-sensei says as she starts walking towards the exit. Miyoko starts to follow Ryuzaki-sensei but stops once she hears Sakuno's panicked voice.

"Ah what will I do!? I told him the wrong directions!" Sakuno sputters out looking nervously at the South exit.

"_Hmm, strange girl," _Miyoko thought as she continued to follow Ryuzaki-sensei to the tournament with Sakuno scampering to catch up. 

******BREAK******

Miyoko could see the huge yellow sign that stated they had reached Kakinokizaka Tennis Garden. The sounds of tennis balls being hit by rackets and shoes squeaking consumed the air. Miyoko had always thought that sound was oddly soothing.

She looked ahead at all the players. In court one, there seemed to be a huge boy serving. Miyoko's eyes narrowed as she examined his stance. His feet were too wide. That by itself is a recipe for disaster. Normally with a wider stance, it is easier to get all your weight onto your back foot, and move it all to your front foot as you hit your racket drop position. However, considering his height it would be more effective if his feet were closer together. That way he could explode up and into the ball. Ah, his serves could be so much more powerful if he only just moved into a more pinpoint stance.

Miyoko then looked at his grip. She could easily see that he was using the Continental Grip. This grip can be used with any shot but it is primarily used for serves, volleys, overheads, slices, and defensive shots. Although it is a very effective grip, it's not made for everyone. Miyoko could easily tell that the boy was aiming to put a lot of power into his serve. However, when using the Continental Grip, you have to aim for the shot just above net level, leaving only a little margin for error. All of this transpired through Miyoko's mind in a matter of seconds.

"_What a shame,"_ Miyoko thought as she watched the serve hit the net. Ryuzaki-sensei was silently observing Miyoko as she analyzed the tall boy. She tried to hide her smile once again.

_She's going to be blown away by Ryoma. _Ryuzaki-sensei's attention slowly drifted towards Sakuno. Sakuno was frantically looking around and was quite a bit ahead of Miyoko and Ryuzaki-sensei.

"Hey, you're in a hurry…is there someone you have your eyes on?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked Sakuno.

"Obaa-chan what happens when you're late for a match?" Sakuno asked earnestly, looking up at Sumire with her big brown eyes in desperation.

"Then he defaults," Ryuzaki-sensei replied bluntly.

"Default?" Sakuno asked with a confused expression.

"Disqualification," Miyoko chimes in. Sakuno looks at her with her wide brown eyes.

"Oh this is bad. I have to go look around!" Sakuno exclaims as she starts to run somewhere.

"What a strange child. Be careful!" Ryuzaki-sensei calls after her. Miyoko sighs as she stuffs her hands in her pockets once again.

"Troublesome…before you ask, I'm not going after her," Miyoko says as she slumps her shoulders.

"I wasn't going to ask you anyways, you lazy brat!" Ryuzaki-sensei snaps. Miyoko's green eyes narrowed at the insult.

_I may be lazy, but I'm no brat, you old hag. _She felt yet another stinging feeling on the back of her head. Miyoko's hand automatically came up to ease the pain.

"OW!"

"I HEARD THAT YOU BAKA!" 

*******BREAK*******

"Where are we going now Ryuzaki-sensei?" Miyoko asked as she walked a little behind her just in case she accidently insulted her again. Miyoko didn't want to die…not like that.

"We are going to go watch that person that I wanted you to see. Hmm, he should be on court 10," Ryuzaki-sensei mumbled to herself as she walked in the direction of the court. Miyoko grudgingly followed her.

"_This is such a waste of time. This guy better be worth it or I'm gonna murder someone," _Miyoko thought as she got more and more aggravated by the second. Ryuzaki-sensei suddenly stopped causing Miyoko to bump into her.

"Hey! Why'd you stop?" Miyoko said as she rubbed her forehead.

"There isn't anyone playing on court 10," Ryuzaki-sensei stated in a confused tone while she rubbed the back of her neck. Miyoko looked, and indeed, there was no one on the court. She sweat dropped.

"So, you mean to tell me that we walked all the way here…for no reason?" Miyoko asked with a twitching eye.

"Hahahaha it seems like it," Ryuzaki-sensei stated as she slowly walked away from the time bomb that Miyoko has become.

"Now now now, no need to be rash. HEY! I have an idea! Why don't we go, um, find Sakuno-chan and then maybe we can go get some cake?" Ryuzaki-sensei suggests quickly. She lets out a relieved sigh as she sees that Miyoko has visibly relaxed.

"….what kinds of cake are we talking about?" Miyoko mumbles, slowly caving into the tactics of her stupid coach

"Any cake you want! I'll even make it for you," Ryuzaki-sensei assured her.

"Whatever. Let's just go find Sakuno…and by the way, I want chocolate cake," Miyoko promptly said and walks away in the direction where they last saw Sakuno. Ryuzaki-sensei slightly chuckles and follows the young prodigy. Yes, young readers, you heard correctly. Hamada Miyoko, the lazy teenager, is a tennis prodigy. As the girl's tennis captain and ace she has led her team to many victories. Ryuzaki-sensei likes to call her the Falcon because her eyes don't miss _anything._ No matter how strong, fast, or skilled her opponent Miyoko is able to gauge their ability and think of a number of counterattacks _right on the spot. _Her IQ of 200 allows Miyoko to think multiple steps ahead of her opponent, and this is what makes her a formidable foe. Sumire is proud to say that over the past 2 years she has taken this young protégée and honed her skills to the max.

"_For a girl who has an IQ of 200, you would think she wouldn't be so stupid and easily blackmailed," _Ryuzaki-sensei thought while glaring at the back of the short teenagers head. Miyoko stopped suddenly.

"Found Sakuno. But, wait, what is she doing?" Miyoko asked while looking at the court that Sakuno inhabited. It appears that two players were having a match but there was no umpire in sight.

"_Hmm, must be a self-judged match then_," Miyoko thought. The player farther away from the two had just performed a perfect return and everyone seemed to be in shock. When Ryuzaki-sensei saw the two players on the court a big smile spread over her face. She grabbed onto Miyoko's hand and started to drag her towards the court.

"Stupid Baa-san, I can get there myself," Miyoko exclaimed while trying to get her arm out of Ryuzaki-sensei's grip.

"You little brat, you need to learn how to respect your elders."

"So you're finally admitting your old now, huh?"

"WHY YOU LITTLE-"

"Hey now, there are children present."

"WAIT TILL I GET MY-"

"Come on, stop being a baby."

"WHAT SO I'M A BABY NOW?! MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MIND!"

"LANGUGE, BAA-SAN, LANGUAGE!"

"You're so infuriating."

"Love you too, now can we please go," Miyoko said as she shoved her hands in her pocket and walked towards the court as though nothing had just happened. Good thing too, because if Ryuzaki-sensei had to suffer another second of that conversation she would've strangled the young girl. And we all know that she's too old for jail. So she sucked it up and followed the insufferable, intolerable, unbearable, unendurable, insupportable, conceited, and arrogant teenager to Sakuno.

"So this is where you went off too…" Ryuzaki-sensei says as we approach Sakuno.

"Obaa-chan! Miyoko-senpai!" Sakuno cried in surprise. However, Ryuzaki-sensei and Miyoko just gave her a cursory glance before they once again scrutinized the game.

"This looks interesting," Ryuzaki-sensei mused while crossing her arms. Miyoko examined the two players on the court. On the side closer to the three of them, stood a male about 175 cm tall with light brown hair that parted in the middle and reached his shoulders. Probably around the age 16 or so and judging by his stance and easy going attitude Miyoko could tell that he was arrougant in his abilities. Underestimating your opponent is the most idiotic, yet frequent, mistake made in all sports. Miyoko averted her attention to the other player who was significantly younger than his opponent. He was wearing a red and white polo shirt, a pair of dark colored short, and a white hat. However, his grip was bothering Miyoko. It was perfect, don't get her wrong, but it felt alienated just by looking at it. It was sort of like how Tezuka played. Just by one look at his cat-like eyes Miyoko could determine that the young boy was very analytical and confident in his abilities.

"_Judging by his stance and the grip on his racket this kid is pretty skilled. The winner of this match was determined as soon as he returned the ball," _Miyoko mused.

"Don't just stand there, stop this! One thing led to another, and now he's playing a game with a high schooler!" Sakuno exclaimed.

"What are you saying? Didn't you see that return? This is where it gets interesting" Ryuzaki-sensei said with a smile. She looked over at Miyoko and her grin got even wider. Miyoko had a small grin on her face and her eyes were lit with curiosity and wonder. Miyoko hasn't seen a kid like this for a while. The last time she ever saw someone with this much potential was during her first year at Seigaku. Tezuka Kunimitsu. He is Seigaku's pillar of support and is known as the Seigaku's "strongest man." Miyoko remembers when the boys' tennis team was having their ranking matches to determine who would become a regular; Tezuka was the only first-year who was entered into the matches. No one expected him to get anywhere in the matches, but his amazing skills in the sport allowed him to get a position as a regular. Now in his third year in Seigaku he has become a strict but efficient captain. Miyoko admires him greatly.

"Doesn't he remind you of someone?" Ryuzaki-sensei whispered in Miyoko's ear. She jumped, startled by her sensei/coach's remark. Her face automatically turned red in embarrassment knowing what Ryuzaki-sensei was up to.

"…n-n-no," Miyoko stuttered as she avoided eye contact with Ryuzaki-sensei.

"Hmmm, I could have sworn that he reminded me of a certain boy that you admire…what was his name again? Tenzo? Tetsuya? Or was it Tetsuo?" Ryuzaki-sensei rambled. Sumire knew that Miyoko had one of the biggest crushes on Tezuka. She knew that many girls in Seigaku were fond of the tensai. It was kind of annoying. Sumire could hear their cheers and screams of his fangirls at _every single_ one of his matches. However, Sumire knew that Miyoko was never like that. She was more of the type that admired from a distance. They had limited contact because they were both very busy with practices. Now that Sumire thought about it, they would make a great couple. Both of them were incredibly intelligent and tensai's in the sport of tennis. Their personalities also fit well together. Maybe when school starts again she can gather the regulars together and they can pull something toget-

"If you say one more word, I'll kill you," Miyoko deadpanned cutting into Ryuzaki-sensei's thoughts. However, the intimidation was not there considering her face was still beet red from embarrassment.

"Hahaha must have been my imagination…." Ryuzaki-sensei muttered while taking a few steps away from Miyoko.

"Hey Sasabe, maybe you should really try to win," a boy, most likely a friend of the arrogant bastard, on the opposite side of the court yelled. Miyoko decided that 'Sasabe' didn't suit him so she'll just resort to calling him 'Arrogant Bastard' for now.

"Shut up! Anybody can ace a return if it was an underhand serve," Arrogant Bastard replied.

"Yup, there are those who use those excuses for losing," the kid said. Arrogant Bastard apparently didn't like the kid's tone so instead served the ball. This is the time that Miyoko would normally analyze his stance and grip and see whether it was adequate or not, but she was too lazy, and she already knew who would win this match.

"There goes Sasabe's bullet serve!" yelled one Arrogant Bastard's friend.

"_Psh like anybody couldn't hit that."_

"Too slow!" the kid replied, easily returning the ball. Arrogant Bastard returned the ball back and they did this a couple times before the kid powerfully hit the ball between Arrogant Bastard's legs.

"Awesome," Sakuno said in awe.

"This is the tip of the iceberg…" Ryuzaki-sensei said. Miyoko looked at her for a second before she realized who this kid was.

"This the kid you brought me here to see?" Miyoko asked and Ryuzaki-sensei nodded her head.

"Eh, you know him Obaa-chan?" Sakuno asked.

"Didn't I tell you guys? He's the Prince of Tennis," Ryuzaki-sensei replied. This would probably be the time that Miyoko would make a stupid joke about how of course she forgot to tell us and how her old age is catching up on her, but she was too intrigued (lazy). Prince of Tennis huh?

"Echizen Ryoma, 12 years old. In a year and a half, he's won 4 straight junior tournaments in the US, and is known as a prodigy," Ryuzaki-sensei stated.

"Four straight?" Sakuno asked in a surprised tone.

"Yup, there's no fluke in that. He's the son of one of my students. The family is returning to Japan and even though he's not known here, he said he was going to appear in this tournament. I told him that if he was that strong, he should register in the Under-14 instead of the Under-12 but Ryoma boasted that if he was going to play, he'd play in the Under-16 category. What a guy…" Ryuzaki-sensei said. Miyoko narrowed her eyes as she took in all this information. This Ryoma kid was really something. However, what irked Miyoko was that his surname, Echizen, sounded really familiar.

Ryoma was doing pretty well, not letting his opponent get a single point. Miyoko averted her attention towards the match again, since it was the kid's turn to serve now. Judging by Ryoma's previous plays his serves should be pretty good. So Miyoko watched as Ryoma got into a perfect serving stance and gracefully served an ace, not even allowing Arrogant Bastard to react to the serve. However, the next serve didn't go as smoothly. Ryoma did the exact same serve as before but this time Arrogant Bastard seemed to have a plan. He sent the ball back and started running towards the net. Miyoko's eye widened a fraction as she realized what Arrogant Bastard was planning. He started to take the height difference into account and started to hit the ball into places where it was almost impossible for Ryoma to reach. As he continued to do, Miyoko could see that Ryoma was starting to get frustrated with Arrogant Bastard's antics. So what Ryoma did next almost made Miyoko laugh. He sent the ball souring over Arrogant Bastard's head in a high lob.

"It's just like Ryoma to overcome the height difference by using a high lob," Ryuzaki-sensei said with small smile on her face. Arrogant Bastard was not happy. Not happy at all. Ryoma used his high lob again, however since it was a self-judged game it was easy for Arrogant Bastard to lie and say it was out. It pissed Miyoko off to no end, but she has seen that coming. He has the right to judge his side of the court anyways.

"_I wonder what Ryoma has planned now," _Miyoko thought. She knows what she would do if she was in his position but there was no telling if he could do the move or not. However, all thought of that flew out of her mind as she saw Ryoma do another high lob. Miyoko knew that this Ryoma kid was pretty intelligent but this was genius. She couldn't keep the grin on her face as Miyoko watched the ball come to a stop where it landed on the ground, indicating obviously that the ball was still in.

"He's good! He added a slice to the lob that allowed the ball to stop before the line," Ryuzaki-sensei said in a cheerful voice looking at the match intently. Miyoko, for once, found herself agreeing with the old hag. However, Miyoko knew that Arrogant Bastard won't give up that easily and that he might go to dangerous drastics in order to win. Though that seems impossible considering the score is now 4-0. Ryoma only needs to win two more games to win the match. So when she saw that Arrogant Bastard tried to jump to reach the high lob that Ryoma was doing again and stop midair, Miyoko knew trouble was coming.

Arrogant Bastard 'accidently' let go of his racket and it flew towards Ryoma's face. Both Ryuzaki-sensei and Sakuno gasped as Ryoma fell to the ground. Miyoko just narrowed her eyes.

"_That baka, what is he thinking?!" _Miyoko thought as she watched Ryoma lift himself off the ground with blood dribbling down his face. Miyoko felt her hands twitched. She wanted to punch something. She hated when players played dirty. Sakuno ran up to Ryoma and took out a pink handkerchief and offered it to him

"Ryoma-kun, are you alright?" Sakuno asked frantically, her eyes widened in concern. Ryoma, however, put his hand out, gesturing her to stop.

"Don't come onto the court during the game," he said as he got up wiping the blood off his face.

"B-but…" Sakuno started worriedly. Ryoma turned towards Arrogant Bastard and stared at him.

"Your grip is weak…mada mada dane," Ryoma said. Miyoko lifted one of her eyebrows. That kid has courage to say that to a senpai. He goes back to his spot and begins to serve. Ryoma, surprising everyone, served a twist serve. Miyoko's eyes widen. She was not expecting that at all.

"Obaa-chan, what was that?" Sakuno asked in an awed tone.

"It's called the twist serve," Ryuzaki-sensei replied.

"What's a twist serve?" Sakuno asked.

"The twist serve can also be called a kick serve. The twist serve is generated by tossing the ball over the head, then hitting it laterally on the server's non-dominant side brushing upward toward the dominant side. Upon hitting the surface of the court, the ball will either bounce directly towards the receiver for a kick serve, or to the left for the receiver for an American twist serve," Miyoko stated. Sakuno stared at her with her big brown eyes in wonder.

"How did you memorize all of that Miyoko-senpai?" Sakuno asked.

"Well, I didn't necessarily memorize it on purpose. It's just that if I read or hear something I automatically remember it," Miyoko explained as she watched Ryoma do another twist serve.

"Ah, that's so cool Miyoko-senpai! You're really smart," Sakuno said while staring at Miyoko in awe. Miyoko blushed and looked away from the cute pigtailed girl. She felt a hand rest on the top of her head, ruffling her hair.

"Aww, is little Miyoko-chan embarrassed. My theory, my dear Sakuno-chan, is that all her growth hormone went to her brain instead of her height!" Ryuzaki-sensei said with a heartfelt laugh. Miyoko's face turned even redder than before. Instead this time, from anger not embarrassment.

Ignoring her stupid sensei/coach, Miyoko turned her attention back to the match. Ryoma was about to serve the winning shot but Arrogant Bastard fell to the ground and covered his face before he could finish.

"Stop! I give up!" Arrogant Bastard cried out.

"Baka," Ryoma stated and started to head back to his bag.

"Don't call me a baka, you dumbass. I wasn't taking you seriously, that's all!" Arrogant Bastard tried to reason. Miyoko would have answered him back, pointing out his bullshit but she lacked the confidence and didn't want any unnecessary attention.

"If you want to play another set, that's fine with me," Ryoma said as he moved his racket from his right hand to his left and looked up at Arrogant Bastard with a glint in his eyes. Miyoko's eyes widened in realization.

"_No. Way."_

"Don't you get it? You stubborn fool, you can't beat Echizen Ryoma no matter how many times you try-" Ryuzaki-sensei started.

"What are you talking about?" Arrogant Bastard interrupted.

"-because he's left handed," Miyoko finished with a small smile on her face. So that's why his grip seemed odd! It wasn't his dominant arm! Ryoma hasn't taken this game seriously from the start. Who would've thought? Ryoma then proceeds to serve the ball with his dominant arm and sends Arrogant Bastard on his pathetic little way.

"Echizen Ryoma, he's truly a monster. It'll be fun from here on," Ryuzaki-sensei mumbles to herself. She looks at Miyoko and sees that same look she saw all those years ago.

"Reminds you of Tezuka right?" Ryuzaki-sensei says in a teasing tone. Miyoko's face once again turns beat red but doesn't deny the fact.

"Hey, um, Ryuzaki-sensei?"

"Yes Miyoko?"

"Go make me some chocolate cake."

**A/N: WELL WHAT DID YOU THINK?! It took me forevverrr to write this. So should I continue? Sorry if Ryuzaki-sensei was kinda OCC. **

**PLEASE REVIEW BECAUSE I LOVE REVIEWS AND THEY ENCOURAGE ME **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's another chapter (:**

**Summary: Miyoko may be a genius, but she has not clue when it comes to boys. Frankly, as the captain of the girl's tennis team, she doesn't have time for them. However, Ryuzaki Sumire, aware of Miyoko's long term crush on Tezuka has given herself the task to get this unlikely pair together. And boy will she need some help. TezukaxOC Rated T for language**

_Italics: Thoughts_

**Sorry for any grammatical mistakes made…I tried to proofread to the best of my abilities!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything except for Miyoko…unfortunately. **

Miyoko likes lots of things. She likes cake (chocolate cake), candy, reading, tennis, cats, and etc. However, there is one thing that Miyoko likes above all things. And that is sleep. Sleep-a condition of body and mind such as that which typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the nervous system is relatively inactive, the eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed, and consciousness practically suspended—has always been a friend of Miyoko. If she's late to class you can assume she's sleeping. If she's late for tennis practice you can assume she's sleeping. If she's late for a meeting you can assume she's sleeping.

Basically if she's late for anything you can assume Miyoko is sleeping. Unsurprisingly, she found herself oversleeping for school that dreadful Monday morning. However, when Miyoko hears her mother shrieking for her to wake up she _bolts _out of bed and changes into her school uniform in record time. When Miyoko's mother, Hamada Chinatsu, was mad everyone knew that serious shit was going down. Her Oka-san could be terrifying.

After Miyoko changed into her horrid uniform she sprinted downstairs to catch a quick breakfast. She stepped into the kitchen and saw her younger brother, Azuma, and her older sister, Harumi, eating toast calmly and her father, Hamada Ryota, reading the newspaper. Miyoko's mother, who was at the stove making more toast, looked up as Miyoko sprinted into the kitchen and literally _glared daggers _at her. Miyoko sweatdropped as she discreetly shuffled to her seat.

"_Now I've really done it. This is how I'm going to die." _

Miyoko sipped some milk as she looked at the clock on the wall and then proceeded to choke as she saw that school started in 30 minutes. Normally, this would be early to go to school but she promised to meet Ryuzaki-sensei 20 minutes before school started. How is she going to get to school in 10 minutes?! She quickly chugged down her milk.

"Sorry Oka-san, I have to go to school early," Miyoko quickly said as she picked up some toast and headed to the sink to wash her glass. She heard her mother sigh.

"You really need to stop waking up so late, Miyoko," Oka-san said, "You need to be more responsible if you ever want to get anywhere in life!" Miyoko rolled her eyes. This is probably the 104th time she has heard this conversation.

"Yes, Oka-san, I know. I'll try to wake up earlier next time," Miyoko says as she takes hold of her handbag and her bag for tennis practice.

"Yeah you better, because if there is a next time…" Oka-san trailed off holding up a butter knife. Miyoko gulped and nodded her head vigorously before scampering out of the room in fright.

"_Damn that was a close one…" _Miyoko thought as she started to walk to school. _"It's only 7:30 in the morning and I have already almost died twice." _

*********BREAK*********

Miyoko walked onto Seigaku's campus approximately 15 minutes before school started and started heading towards Ryuzaki-sensei's office. Hopefully, she wouldn't kill her for being late. Two death threats were enough; another one is kind of pushing it.

She sighed tiredly and trudged up to the old hag's office. She stopped when she heard noises coming from inside.

"_Was she expecting someone else too?" _Miyoko pondered. She put her ear next to the door and eavesdropped on the conversation.

"Please. I came to deliver this month's release." Oh, it must be those reporters Ryuzaki-sensei was talking about. Miyoko didn't know they were coming so early in the school year though.

"You could have just sent it," Miyoko heard Ryuzaki-sensei say.

"It's okay, we do spend plenty of time on tennis students, too."

"Hmm? I see, you came to spy on our new members, then?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked. Miyoko heard Reporter-san give out a laugh.

"You got me! How does it look this year?" Reporter-san asked.

"Ah, we'll see," Ryuzaki-sensei said. Suddenly Miyoko heard a Ryuzaki-sensei's startled voice.

"Huh?"

"I was in charge of that article." Wait what article is it?! Miyoko tapped her fingers impatiently, curiosity getting the best of her.

"Couldn't you have written it in a calmer manner?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked, "This thing has biased written all over it!" Miyoko heard palms hit the desk.

"I'm fine with that!" Reporter-san exclaimed, "Men's tennis was really something back then. I was an especially big fan of Echizen Nanjirou." Wait, what?

Echizen…

_Echizen…._

ECHIZEN NANJIROU! That's why Miyoko thought that kid from this weekend was so peculiar. He must be Nanjirou-san's son! _"Damn, how could I be so stupid?! The answer was right in front of me!" _

Miyoko couldn't believe that that little brat was Echizen Nanjirou's son. Her father was always blabbing about how he was the best tennis player in all of Japan. Nanjirou, also called "Samurai Nanjirou", was known for his invincible tennis skills during his earlier years as a professional tennis player.

"Echizen, eh?" Ryuzaki-sensei's said in that annoying all-knowing old hag voice that Miyoko hated.

"He retired at a young age. But he could've reached the top of the world had he played for a couple more years. Even a Grand Slam wouldn't have been just a dream," Reporter-san said. Even from her position outside of the room, Miyoko could hear the awe in his voice.

"Echizen Nanjirou, eh?" Ryuzaki-sensei said with a faraway tone. At this precise moment, the _brilliant _Miyoko chose to trip over her shoe laces and fall straight on her face.

"_HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?! I WASN'T MOVING!" _Miyoko thought to herself. It surprises even herself how she can defy logic in the most complicated of ways. She got up slowly and dusted herself off. Miyoko's head jerked towards the door when she heard it slam open. She sheepishly looked up at the strange man standing in the doorway. He was wearing a striped long sleeved button up shirt tucked into black trousers. Also strapped around his shoulders was a camera and handbag. This must be Reporter-san. He was staring at Miyoko with wide eyes. She sighed internally. _"Troublesome…" _Miyoko bowed her head politely.

"Ohayō, sorry to disturb," Miyoko mumbled. She could hear Ryuzaki-sensei sigh as she turned around facing the door.

"Sleep in again Miyoko?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked. Miyoko's face automatically heated up from embarrassment.

"O-Of course not! There was this bird that was injured on the street and I just ha-"

"Cut your excuses," Ryuzaki-sensei interjected. Well, _someone _woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Normally, she would let Miyoko continue embarrassing herself with her stupid excuses.

"You're Hamada Miyoko aren't you?" Reporter-san asked before the two could start arguing, interest brewing in his voice. Miyoko's face heated up at the attention and just nodded her head, not trusting her voice. The next thing she knew, Reporter-san was up in her face and shaking her hand vigorously.

"Wow! It's a pleasure to meet the Falcon! I've seen you're previous games and may I say you are truly amazing! How is the tennis team holding up? Do you think the girl's team will make it to Nationals this year?" Reporter-san asked energetically not allowing her to get a word in. Miyoko just stared at him with her wide green eyes. _"He knows who I am?"_

"Oh! Sorry! How rude of me! My name is Inoue Mamoru and my photographer and I are visiting Seigaku in order to report on the team's upcoming ranking matches!" Mamoru-san said in a way too energetic voice. Miyoko relaxed when the weirdo let go of her hand and tried to ease the redness off her face. She looked at Ryuzaki-sensei for some guidance but it only reddened her face more when she saw her sensei/coach trying to muffle her laughter.

"Yeah, I'm Hamada Miyoko," was all she said him as she inched closer to Ryuzaki-sensei. If it was possible, Inoue-san's smile grew even brighter.

"Is that all you needed Inoue-san?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked before he could continue to ask more questions. Inoue-san automatically sobered up and got back to the reason he was in her office.

"Yeah, so I can come after school and observe the new players right?" Inoue-san asked looking at Ryuzaki-sensei hopefully. She looked at him and sighed.

"The juniors and seniors on the boy's team have a game with another school so signups will start tomorrow not today for both girls and boys," Ryuzaki-sensei explained.

"_Damn, I forgot about that. And I came prepared too…oh well, I suppose I can just practice by myself or something," _Miyoko thought to herself.

"Oh, okay. Well I'll see you tomorrow then Ryuzaki-san! And I'll see you tomorrow as well Hamada-san," Inoue-san said enthusiastically and left with a small bow. Miyoko was horrified. How could someone be this excited this early in the morning?! She turned to Ryuzaki-sensei and saw that she was staring at her already.

"Huh? What'd I do?" Miyoko asked with her head slightly tilted.

"You heard every single word didn't you."

"WHAT? I'D NEVER-"

"DON'T LIE TO ME BRAT."

"I AIN'T LIEING YOU HAG."

"STOP CALLING ME A HAG YOU MIDGET."

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO…AND WHO YOU CALLING MIDGET YOU—"

"ENOUGH! Just admit you heard everything and I will not hold anything against you," Ryuzaki-sensei said while breathing hard, her chest moving up and down in rage.

"Okay, I heard everything."

"Now I'm not pressuring you to tell the truth—"

"But, I'm just told you the truth."

"—so if you WANT to you can tell me the truth and I will not harm you (maybe a little)—"

"Seriously, have you gone deaf Baa-san? I'm telling the truth."

"—so why don't you be a dear and tell the truth huh?"

"I HEARD EVERYTHING."

"You see? That wasn't so hard!" Ryuzaki-sensei exclaimed clapping her hands together like she was entertaining a 5 year old. Let's just say you could literally feel like anger and annoyance coming off of Miyoko. However, she calmed down when she recalled the conversation that Ryuzaki-sensei had with the journalist.

"So you used to teach Echizen Nanjirou, huh?" Miyoko asked curiously.

"Yes, I was kind of expecting you to realize that sooner you baka," Ryuzaki-sensei stated as she crossed her arms. Normally this would be the part where Miyoko would lash out at her but she was also reprimanding herself for missing that detail when she was told Ryoma's full name.

"Ah yeah, I know. Very stupid of me. So that's where Echizen disappeared off to? To raise his son?" Miyoko asked.

"I suppose so. That good for nothing pervert doesn't contact me willing so I can't be sure," Ryuzaki-sensei said glumly.

"I wouldn't either…" Miyoko muttered under her breathe, hoping it was out of earshot.

"I'm going to pretend like I didn't hear that." Damn it.

"So why'd you call me here Ryuzaki-sensei?" Miyoko asked, finally getting to the point.

"Well, the bell will ring in about 20 seconds, so I don't really see the point of telling you now. Why don't you come after school instead?" Ryuzaki-sensei said while sitting down at her desk. Miyoko sighed. Of course she hurried to school for no reason. She could've slept like 10 minutes more. Miyoko really hates Ryuzaki-sensei sometimes. Actually more like 99% of the time.

**********BREAK**********

School was boring today. Tezuka's fangirls were especially glum today due to his absence. Literally every minute there was a unanimous sigh that came from each and every single member of Tezuka's fanclub. Miyoko wanted to slam her head through a wall.

Miyoko looked over to the empty seat next to her where Tezuka normally sat. She still couldn't get over the fact that Domoto-sensei actually put her in a seat next to THE Tezuka. You couldn't imagine the number of death glares she got that day. She had yet to have any interactions with the prodigy yet, which she was thankful for. Miyoko was not sure whether she would be able to speak a coherent phrase in front of him.

"_He'd probably think I was one of his fangirls. Damn it, why do I suck?" _Miyoko thought, shifting her legs so they were crossed. She looked at Domoto-sensei and saw that he was staring at her.

"Hamada, why don't you answer this math problem?" Domoto-sensei asked. Miyoko looked at the problem on the board and sighed. Didn't they learn this stuff last year? She stared at the problem for a couple seconds.

"The answer is 16x to the 3rd plus 10x squared minus 39x minus 27," Miyoko said with a bored expression on her face. She looked at the surprised expression on her sensei's face.

"What? How did you do that?" Domoto-sensei asked flabbergasted.

"In my head," Miyoko deadpanned. He looked at her for another second before erasing the problem and writing another on the board.

"What about this one?" Domoto-sensei asked expectantly. This one didn't even take her a second.

"2x plus 3 divided by x plus 4," Miyoko answered again. He wrote another problem.

"Square root of 50x to the 7th multiplied by the square root of 2x to the 3rd." Another problem.

"3 plus or minus i multiplied by the square root of 15 divided by 3." Another problem.

"Negative 34 divided by 95 plus 122 divided by 95 multipled by i." Domoto-sensei stops here looking at Miyoko with wide eyes. Everyone else in the class was whispering and openly staring at her. Miyoko forced herself not to allow her cheeks to redden from all the attention. She hated when people looked at her.

"_Probably not a smart thing to answer all those question that fast," _Miyoko thought to herself.

"Is that enough questions Domoto-sensei?" Miyoko asked quietly trying to avoid everyone's eyes. Domoto-sensei nodded dumbly and continued his lesson but no one was really paying attention. Miyoko suspects that he wasn't really paying attention either.

*********BREAK*********

"Ryuzaki-sensei, I'm coming in!" Miyoko shouts as she opens the door to her sensei/coach's office. This is usually the manner she uses when she enters Ryuzaki-sensei's office. Thank Kami she heard voices that morning before she could embarrass herself even more in front of Inoue-san. She looked into the quaint room and saw that Ryuzaki-sensei was not there yet. She sighed and decided to go sit in her chair. Mostly because it was a rolly chair. Miyoko loved rolly chairs.

She turned the chair around so she could see out the window. Miyoko could see the three tennis courts perfectly from this position. She could see two 2nd years practicing on the court, Miyoko couldn't remember their names. Outside of the fenced in tennis courts were four 1st years. Miyoko looked at them closely her eyes lingering on the raven haired kid who had his back towards the window. He turned around so Miyoko could see his face and she stood up abruptly. It was Echizen Ryoma.

"_What?! He goes to Seigaku? Damn that old hag doesn't tell me anything," _Miyoko thought her face forming a frown. She sat back down and swiveled her (Ryuzaki-sensei's) chair towards the door when she heard it open. There, at the door, stood the old hag. Miyoko crossed her legs and put her hands on the desk.

"Hey Baa-san, what did you ne-"

"Get out of my chair."

"Understood."

Miyoko reluctantly gets out of the chair and walks around the desk as Ryuzaki-sensei takes her rightful place. She shuffles a couple of papers around before she finds the paper she was looking for and then looked up at Miyoko with a serious expression.

"Okay, as you know, tomorrow signups for the tennis club are to start. The boys will get these three courts outside this window, while the girls will get the three courts on the other side of the school close to the headmaster's office. Before practice starts, make sure that every player has their physicals—yes even the first years—and collect those. Then, I want you to make a list of the rookies showing up and to present this list to me after practice ends. After you've made the list, I want you to make a list of second and third years and list their strengths and weaknesses. When you come hand me the list after practice, I will you give you a form for each second and third year and you must fill them out according to the data you collected during the practice. From these forms you will determine who can qualify for a regular position. After you finish you will take the eligible players and organize them into 4 blocks. Oh and we will meet in my classroom not my office. Any questions?" Ryuzaki-sensei instructed as she read off a list.

"No, I understand," Miyoko said. Finally, after months of waiting, her duty as captain was finally kicking in. For once in her life, Miyoko has something to look forward to.

"Well, good luck then Miyoko-buchou," Ryuzaki-sensei said with a smile lighting her face. Miyoko smiled back and gave out a small laugh. Yep, she definitely couldn't wait for tomorrow. Then a thought came to mind.

"You didn't tell me Ryoma-kun went to school here," Miyoko said with a frown. Ryuzaki-sensei gave a low chuckle.

"Didn't think you would be interested," she admitted glancing out the window. Miyoko furrowed her eyebrows.

"_Yeah, why exactly would I be interested?" _Miyoko pondered. Sometimes she doesn't even understand herself. Suddenly Ryuzaki-sensei's face turned into a frown and she stood up abruptly.

"What is Momoshiro think he's doing? I tell him to take the week off and rest his stupid injury and what does he do? Goes out and challenges a 1st year to a match! If that isn't smart I don't know what is," Ryuzaki-sensei rants, a couple veins popping on her forwards. Everyone knows she's pissed when she starts getting sarcastic.

Miyoko averts her attention outside and sees Momoshiro-san, a 2nd year regular, playing a match with Ryoma-kun. She knew Momoshiro-san due to a couple run-ins in Ryuzaki-sensei's office and it is safe to say that she didn't like him. Miyoko didn't necessarily hate him though either. On closer inspection, Momoshiro-san's movements seemed a little slow and his shots were not as powerful as they normally are. Ryuzaki-sensei said that he was injured and judging by his movement, Miyoko came to the conclusion that something was wrong with one his ankles. She couldn't determine which one. Ryuzaki-sensei let out a long sigh and stood up from her chair. She started heading towards the door and motioned for Miyoko to follow her.

"Come on, this won't take long," she said and proceeded to walk out the door.

*********BREAK*********

"Are you okay with this Momoshiro?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked as soon as she entered the court with Miyoko lagging behind.

"Oh, Baa-san," Momoshiro-san said turning around to face Ryuzaki-sensei.

"At this rate, that freshman would have ran all over you," Ryuzaki-sensei said with a bit of humor in her tone. Momoshiro-san rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"You could be right…" he said. Ryuzaki-sensei narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Be serious. If your right ankle wasn't sprained, you could've beaten him," Ryuzaki-sensei said. Miyoko looked down lightly at Momoshiro-san's right ankle and could see that it was taped.

"Nope, he knew it from the start," he said matter of factly as he stared at the group of 1st years crowding around Ryoma-kun. Ryuzaki-sensei let out a small chuckle as she crossed her arms.

"Really?" she asked.

"He used his other hand to play a senpai. Must be his handicap," Momoshiro-san said with an analytical face as he stared at Ryoma-kun. He turned around suddenly about to head off to who knows where. However, he stops as he finally takes note of Miyoko's presence. His face lights up in a big smile.

"Oh is that you Miyoko-senpai? You're so small I didn't see you there. Still so quiet I see! And have you grown a couple centimeters since I la-"

"Don't talk to me."

"SO MEAN!"

**A/N: I hope you guys liked it! Please review, favorite, and follow (: **

**Tell me if you liked it and any constructive criticism is fine too! Anyways I should be able to update soon maybe Thursday or Friday! **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Ahhh thanks for all the favorites, follows, and reviews! Hope you guys like this chapter and sorry for any possible mistakes made and sorry for the late update :P And I changed some things in the previous chapter. Miyoko's height instead of 160 cm is 152cm.**

**Not really happy with this chapter, so sorry about that too. **

**Summary: Miyoko may be a genius, but she has no clue when it comes to boys. Frankly, as the captain of Seigaku's girl's tennis team, she doesn't have time for them. However, Ryuzaki Sumire, aware of Miyoko's long term crush on Tezuka has given herself the task to get this unlikely pair together. And boy will she need some help. TezukaxOC, Rated T for language**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything unfortunately :/ well except for my OC **

**ANYWAYS, ENJOY!**

Miyoko woke up early that Tuesday morning. She rubbed her eyes and peered at the alarm clock on her nightstand that said 6:45 a.m. She lay in a supine position on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

"_Today's the day,"_ Miyoko thought as a small smile crept onto her face. Normally, when tennis season started, Miyoko would leave early and run some laps before practice started. So, Miyoko got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready. She quickly brushed her teeth and combed her shoulder length, pin straight hair and pulled it into a short pony tail at the nape of her neck. Miyoko walked back into her room and changed into some shorts and a t-shirt. She grabbed her school uniform and stuffed it into her school bag so that she could change into it after she takes her shower in the girl's locker room.

Miyoko's stamina was not the greatest. She used to have a lot of trouble with her stamina particularly when she was a 1st-year. Miyoko could run for long periods of time with no problem if she was running at her own pace. Her problem, or weakness if you may, was that she wasn't fast. Simply put, Miyoko's reflexes were shit. Fortunately, the captain at the time and Ryuzaki-sensei saw this and had put together a training regime that would depict the most promising results. Miyoko cringed at the thought of that retched regime.

She walked past the kitchen where she could hear her mother cooking everyone's breakfast. Miyoko peered into the kitchen and saw that her Oka-san's back was faced towards her.

"Hey Oka-san, I'm going to school early to run a little," Miyoko told her. Hamada Chinatsu turned around and looked at her lazy daughter. Correction—her _genius_ lazy daughter. Harumi and Azuma were both very bright children but Miyoko was different. Miyoko, unlike them, never needed to try. Most things came natural to her. She was captain of the girl's tennis club and one of the top students of her class. She tied with one of her classmates for first, so Chinatsu wasn't really sure if Miyoko was top of her class or not.

"Are you not eating breakfast? You know your Otou-san would be angry if he found out you didn't eat breakfast," Oka-san chided, turning around to face Miyoko.

"I know. It's just that I don't really have an appetite," Miyoko said resting a hand on her stomach. Chinatsu frowned worriedly but eventually gave in.

"Alright. Make sure you eat a big lunch then!" Oka-san said. Miyoko nodded and headed out the door, grabbing her tennis bag on the way. She stepped outside into the chilly air and started walking towards Seigaku. Miyoko put in her headphones and set her iPod to shuffle. Miyoko sighed deeply, regretting waking up so early to go for a run. Usually the girls and boys tennis teams would have practice in the morning; however, since it was the first day of practice, the tennis club members were not required to practice in the morning. Morning practices would start tomorrow. Now that she thought about it, Miyoko wasn't really sure if the boys had morning practice today.

Miyoko walked through the gates of her school and headed towards the courts close to the headmasters office. She was sure that no one would be there at this time so she was guaranteed privacy. Miyoko walked into the girl's locker room and put her things in her designated locker. She slowly made her way to the courts and started to run 10 laps around the three courts.

As she ran around the court, Miyoko concentrated on the burn of her muscles and feeling of her feet hitting the ground. For some reason, there was a slight pain in her stomach that wouldn't go away. She assumed that it was just some cramps but she has been running for 10 minutes now and the pain wasn't going away. Normally, Miyoko would think that it was that time of the month, but she had just had hers the previous week. After she finished her 10 laps she stopped to try and catch her breath. Miyoko put her hands on to top of her head, stretching her abdomen to try and ease the cramps. However, it only made it worse. Way worse. The pain came in intervals, each worse than the previous. Miyoko grabbed her stomach and jerked forward as another pain unexpectedly hit her.

"_What's wrong with me?" _Miyoko thought as a wave of nausea overwhelmed her senses. _"I need to get to the nurse's office."_ Miyoko started to move and automatically regretted it as the pain started to spread through her stomach.

"_Shitshitshitshitshit I'm screwed. What the fuck is happening to me?!"_ Miyoko thought as she fell to her knees one hand holding her weight up and the other on her stomach. She tried to call for help through her gasping breathes but no sound came out. Miyoko rested her hot forehead on the cool ground as she held her stomach with both of her arms. After a couple of minutes the pain slowly started to recede and Miyoko slowly got onto her feet and started to slowly make her way towards the nurses office. Miyoko headed towards the door that would lead her inside Seigaku with a hand resting on her stomach. Her face grimaced every time she took a step. Miyoko could feel sweat rolling down her stomach and her face. Even in her nauseous state, she could tell that her body temperature was higher than it should be. However, when she was rounding a corner, she slammed into a wall. Miyoko fell right on her ass as she let out a pained yelp, her hand tightening around her stomach. When Miyoko looked up to see why there was a wall in the middle of the hallway, she saw that the wall was in fact Tezuka Kunimitsu. Miyoko felt her eyes widen as she stared up at her crush. She tried her hardest to make sure that her expression didn't reveal any of the pain that was flaring in her stomach. Miyoko hated showing weakness. It was one of her greatest fears.

"_Just my fricking luck," _Miyoko thought grumpily. She put a hand to her mouth as she felt another wave of nausea hit her like a tsunami.

"Watch where you're going," Miyoko heard Tezuka say as he side stepped her fallen form and start heading towards the stairs that she had just climbed down. Miyoko, overwhelmed by embarrassment and pain, got up as fast as she could. She automatically regretted it and fell back down due to the pain that was rising again, letting a small groan release from her mouth. Miyoko felt tears come to her eyes.

"_I have to get to the nurse's office."_

"_I have____to get to the nurse's office."_

"_I HAVE to get to the nurse's office."_

Determination overrided the pain in her stomach as she got on her hands and knees. As soon as she got up, Miyoko put one hand on the wall to steady herself. She started to take small steps towards her destination.

"_I'm not going to get anywh-" _However before Miyoko could finish her thought, she was swept off her feet into someone's arm. She looked up and saw that it was Tezuka. He wasn't looking at her but she could see that his face was set in purposefulness.

"Do you need to go to the nurse's office?" He asked. Miyoko swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat and nodded reluctantly. Tezuka started moving quickly towards the office. She closed her eyes tightly trying to ease the pain away. Miyoko tried to ignore the pain by concentrating on the feeling of Tezuka's strong arms around her and the feeling of his cold hand under her knees. Miyoko started to take deep breathes but it only made her stomach feel worse. She gritted her teeth to stop herself from yelping in pain when Tezuka abruptly stopped. Miyoko looked up and saw that they had reached the nurse's office. Tezuka gently put her feet on the ground but didn't let her go completely.

"Can you walk now?" Tezuka asked looked down at Miyoko's shivering figure. She swallowed (more like choked) down her pride and shook her head. Tezuka nodded calmly and leaned his head down so that it was next to hers. She looked at him questioningly. He raised one of his eyebrows.

"Put your arm around my neck," Tezuka said. Miyoko reluctantly put her arm around his neck as his arm snaked around her small waist. Tezuka opened the door and signaled the nurse that Miyoko was hurt as he led her to one of the many beds in the infirmary. Miyoko stared at the ceiling trying once again to calm her breathing.

"_Why is it so hot in here? It's so suffocating in here, I can hardly breathe."_

"_Why?"_

"_Why?"_

"_Why?"_

The nurse hustled to Miyoko's side and automatically put her hand on Miyoko's forehead.

"You're burning up? What's wrong dear?" the nurse asked as she stared at Miyoko's shivering figure. Miyoko tried to answer but found that the task was extremely difficult.

"It's m-my s-s-stomach," Miyoko finally croaked. Miyoko flinched as another wave of pain hit again.

"I need you to remove your hand from your stomach. I'm going to take a quick look," the nurse said. Miyoko slowly moved her hand to her side. The nurse pushed her shirt up, letting the cool air strike her scorching stomach, and put her glove covered hands on it and moved them across it.

"Can you tell me what happened?" the nurse asked kindly as she pressed a little harder onto Miyoko's stomach causing her to wince.

"I w-was running in t-t-the tennis c-court and m-my s-s-stomach started t-t-to h-hurt and I c-c-c-couldn't move," Miyoko choked out. Fortunately, the pain in her stomach was slowing dispersing away. The nurse frowned at Miyoko's explanation.

"_It sounds like she is suffering from stomach cramps but I didn't know it could be this severe," _the nurse thought while taking her hand away from Miyoko's bare stomach.

"Start taking deep breaths and the pain should start to go away, understand?" the nurse instructed before heading out of the room to get who knows what. Miyoko turned her head and saw that the time was 7:36 a.m.

"_Damn, I still need to take a shower…whatever, I'll just be late. I don't care," _Miyoko thought as she closed her eyes. They snapped open when she heard the sound of someone standing up close to her left. She turned her head slightly and saw that Tezuka was surprisingly still in the room. However, he was moving towards the door. Miyoko stared at the back of her savoir. She inwardly scoffed at her foolishness.

"_This isn't a shoujo manga. He was simply in the right place at the right time. I'll say thank you and he'll nod and then…well that's it," _Miyoko thought, a frown bearing her face. She sighed to herself.

"Domo arigato," Miyoko whispered, not sure if he heard her. When Miyoko heard the door close behind Tezuka she took another long, deep breath trying to ease her thumping heart. The pain in her stomach, surprisingly, was now practically nonexistent. _"What the hell was that? I have never gotten cramps that hurt so bad before," _Miyoko thought. Her eyes widened. If Ryuzaki-sensei figures out what just happened she won't let Miyoko go to practice after school. Today's the most important day for the captain to be present so she had to be there no matter the circumstance. The nurse was still not in the room so Miyoko took this chance to slip out.

"_Ewww I feel so sticky…"_ Miyoko thought as she made her way to the girl's locker room, all thought of the previous event gone.

**********BREAK**********

"What's your excuse this time Hamada?" was the first thing Miyoko heard when she walked into class 10 minutes late. At this point in the morning, she was aggravated. _Extremely _aggravated. There was that incident with her stomach and then the warm water wasn't working and now she had to listen to her sensei's lecture all while making a fool out of herself. Well, she had _enough. _Miyoko looked Domoto-sensei right in the eyes and then smiled the most blinding smile she could muster.

"Well you see, I had this conflict going on within me regarding whether to exhibit herd mentality by attending class or whether to take a more individualistic decision of skipping school. _Obviously _I chose the former but the decision-making process was lengthy and way too complex," Miyoko said warmly. The class was silent. Never had they heard the quiet girl talk back to their sensei. However, all Domoto-sensei did was raise his eyebrows.

"Is that all you can come up with?"

"Why, would you like me to try again?"

"Go ahead."

"I saw a fire truck as I was coming to school and went home to make sure my house wasn't on fire."

"Pathetic."

"I got lost on the road of life."

"You stole that from Naruto."

"My pet fish was trying to kill himself."

"You don't have a fish."

"…how did you know?"

"You just told me." Miyoko sighed deeply, her shoulders falling. She took a small peek at her classmates who had remained quite through the whole ordeal. Their eyes were wide and some even had their mouths hanging open. Miyoko's face turned red, suddenly regretting losing her temper. _"Stupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupid." _Suddenly she heard a deep hearty laugh emitting from Domoto-sensei's mouth. Miyoko whipped her head in his direction and her eyes widened at the sight of her sensei holding his stomach and leaning over his desk. Then laughter started coming from the Miyoko's fellow classmates. Miyoko's face became a shade of deep red and she stared at the ground willing it to open up and swallow her whole.

"Ryuzaki-sensei did say you were a witty one. Didn't believe her until now though," Domoto-sensei said wiping an imaginary tear away. Miyoko's eyes narrowed at the name of Ryuzaki-sensei. _"That damn old bat's talking behind my back now. Pisses me off…" _Miyoko thought as she grudgingly walked to her seat beside Tezuka. She glanced at him while she was sitting down and saw that he was reading a book. Miyoko wished she could see the title.

Miyoko would probably never be able to act normal around him again due to stomach incident not too long ago. _"He probably thinks I'm weak now. Coming to tears just because of some stomach cramps,"_ Miyoko thought as she diverted her attention back to Domoto-sensei as he returned back to lecturing on Japanese History.

"_I just want school to end…" _Miyoko thought as she rested her chin on her hand and wrote down a couple notes.

**********BREAK***********

After school was over, Miyoko pushed herself through the crowded corridors trying to reach Ryuzaki-sensei's office. Her height of 152 cm was not helping at all. However, determined (stubborn) in nature, Miyoko would never allow someone to make fun of her height.

"Ryuzaki-sensei, I'm coming in!" Miyoko shouted as she pushed open the door. She looked in and saw that Ryuzaki-sensei was looking outside the window like the old hag she is. Miyoko narrowed her eyes and stomped up to her desk.

"Who do you think you are?! Thinking you can just talk about me, _behind my back_, to teachers!" Miyoko said, a vein popping in her forehead. Ryuzaki-sensei turned around and looked at her with a little smile.

"Ah it was good things good things," Ryuzaki-sensei assured putting her hands up in surrender.

"Telling Domoto-sensei that I'm witty is not 'good things'," Miyoko yelled back pointing at Ryuzaki-sensei accusingly.

"But it was a complime-"

"NO IT WASN'T! I got completely humiliated in front of my class because of you!"

"Huh? What'd I do?"

"You told Domoto-sensei I was witty!"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"DON'T PLAY DUMB!"

"Is that all you came to say?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked while turning her back to Miyoko and staring out the window again. Miyoko sighed deeply and hung her head.

"Sorry, not a good day…" Miyoko said glumly.

"You should be in higher spirits, Miyoko-buchou! It's your first day as captain, you should be at practice intimidating all the first years with your height," Ryuzaki-sensei said, putting a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter. However, she stooped when she felt the evil aura coming from Miyoko's direction.

"Hahahaha anyways…you remember what you have to do right?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked hastily, trying to divert Miyoko's attention.

"Of course I remember you old hag. Unlike you, my memories are not close to fading away just yet," Miyoko retorted. Ryuzaki-sensei waved off her insult like it was nothing. However, before she could tell Miyoko to get out of her office someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Ryuzaki-sensei said as she took a seat at her desk. Miyoko turned towards the door and almost choked on air when she saw who it was. At the entrance of the Ryuzaki-sensei's office stood none other than Tezuka. He glanced at Miyoko briefly before turning his attention back on Ryuzaki-sensei.

"Oh, Tezuka! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be starting warm-ups?" Ryuzaki-sensei said as her face split into a smile when she saw Miyoko's baffled expression.

"You said you wanted to talk to me," was Tezuka's brief answer.

"Almost forgot about that haha," Ryuzaki-sensei said rubbing her head sheepishly. Now it was Miyoko's turn to put a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter. Ryuzaki-sensei only blinked before her eyes took a mischievous glint.

"Hey Miyoko-chan, why don't you explain what I told you yesterday to Tezuka here while you both walk to the locker rooms? Would that be a problem Tezuka?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked, an innocent expression gracing her face. Miyoko's eyes widened when she figured out what Ryuzaki-sensei was doing. She was about to give her sensei/coach one of her most menacing glares but Tezuka answered before Miyoko could.

"That's no problem," Tezuka said before turning back towards the door and leaving. Miyoko sent one last glare to Ryuzaki-sensei before walking after Tezuka. She jogged a little so that she could be able to walk beside him. Their height different was enormous. She didn't even reach his shoulder. How embarrassing. If Miyoko had to guess, he was probably around 180 cm, almost 30 cm more than her. Her mind went back to this morning when he carried her to the nurse's office. Miyoko blushed at the thought of his arms around her.

"So?" Tezuka finally asked.

"N-Nani?" Miyoko stuttered, her mind coming back to reality.

"What were you supposed to tell me?" Tezuka asked.

"Oh uh yeah, sorry. Anyways, um, Ryuzaki-sensei said that before practice starts you need to collect everyone's physicals. After that you need to make a list of all the rookies and present that list to Ryuzaki-sensei after practice. Once you've made that list, she wants you to make another list where you list the second and third years and their strengths and weaknesses. When you come to hand those lists to Ryuzaki-sensei after practice she will give you a form for each second and third year student and you will have to fill them out according to the data you collected. From those forms you will determine who can qualify for a regular position this season. And, um, she also wants you to start forming the blocks for the regular matches. Ryuzaki-sensei also said that we will meet in her classroom rather than her office. That's all she told me," Miyoko explained stepping outside the school building with Tezuka still beside her.

"Alright," was his short reply.

"Oishi-san is your vice-captain right?" Miyoko asked hesitantly.

"Correct," Tezuka said walking slowly so that Miyoko could keep up with him.

"You might want to bring him with you after practice. It would be nice to have a second opinion," Miyoko explained looking up at Tezuka.

"I suppose you're right. Will you be bringing your vice-captain?" Tezuka asked nonchalantly. Miyoko's eyes widened. _"He knows I'm the captain of the girl's team…"_

"No, her grandfather's in the hospital so she has to go there after practice. I don't mind really," Miyoko said. Her vice-captain, Shimabukuro Azusa, has been in a pretty glum mood due to the admittance of her grandfather in the hospital. Apparently Azusa-chan was very close to him.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Tezuka said looking down at her. His expression had not changed but she could hear the change in his tone suggesting that he really meant what he said. Miyoko smiled at him, forgetting all her nervousness. This was the most she had ever talked with the stoic and strict captain. Miyoko liked talking with him.

"Are you alright?" Tezuka suddenly asked. Miyoko looked up at him again and raised her eyebrows, not sure what he meant by the question. "From this morning," he clarified.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just some bad cramps," Miyoko said trying to put a smile on her face. She didn't want to talk about the embarrassing situation that happened this morning. However, before he could reply, they had reached the boys locker room.

"I'll see you after practice then?" Miyoko asked looking up at him again. All this looking up was hurting her neck. He nodded and headed into the locker room. Miyoko continued walking, a small smile gracing her lips. However, what the two of them didn't know was that they were being watched through their whole interaction.

**********BREAK**********

"OMG DID YOU SEE THAT?! TEZUKA-BUCHOU WAS TALKING TO A **GIRL**!"

"Eiji keep your voice down, they'll hear us!"

"Didn't now Tezuka was into the younger type?"

"What do you mean by younger Fuji?"

"Did you see how small she was? Definitely a first year."

"Don't be stupid, that's Miyoko-senpai!"

"Senpai?"

"Hamada Miyoko. She's in class 3-1 and is the captain of the girl's tennis team. Hamada-san is known as The Falcon due to her amazing analytical skills and her falcon like reflexes. She might seem small but she is fast and her shots are powerful. Hamada-san is probably one of the best tennis players the girl's team has ever seen," Inui explained adjusting his glasses in that creepy manner of his.

"Seriously?!"

"Ano…are you sure that this is fine? Tezuka-buchou would be mad if he found us snooping," Takashi said from their current position behind some bushes near the boy's locker room.

"Yeah this is annoying," Kaido said in that rough voice of his.

"Shut up baka. This is a once in a life opportunity," came Momoshiro's annoyed. While the two continued bickering, the rest of the tennis regulars continued talking about the current situation.

"I agree with Momo-kun. In all my years at Seigaku, I have never once seen Tezuka take interest in a girl," Fuji said with his normal smile.

"There is a 95.2% chance that they're just talking about tennis," Inui said looking at his notebook that he always carried around. Everyone slumped their shoulder. Just like Tezuka to be talking about tennis to such a cute girl.

"Guys, we should probably go no-" however before Oishi could finish his sentence Fuji had put a hand over his mouth preventing him from speaking any further. Fuji put a finger to his lip in the universal 'shut up' sign and motioned everyone to look at the entrance of the boy's locker room. They all looked at Miyoko and Tezuka standing at the entrance. The regulars were close enough to hear the conversation.

"I'll see you after practice then?" they heard the small girl ask. All of the regular's eyes widened (well except for Fuji and Inui). They watched in a daze as Tezuka nodded and walked into the boy's locker room. When Miyoko had left the premises the regulars fell into utter_ chaos_. 

"DID YOU HEAR THAT?!"

"Didn't know Tezuka had it in him."

"Did not see that coming."

"A date? A DATE?!"

"OUR BELOVED TEZUKA-BUCHOU IS GOING ON HIS FIRST DATE! I CAN'T BEL-"

"Run 10 laps right now," said a voice that made everyone freeze. They all slowly turned their heads in the direction the voice came from and saw Tezuka standing menacingly above their crouched figures. With wide eyes they all nodded and _sprinted _to the courts before Tezuka could say anything else. Only Inui and Oishi stayed behind.

"You guys too," Tezuka said staring the two down.

"You heard us right?" Oishi asked. Oishi concluded that he did from Tezuka's lack of response. "Are you really going on a date with Hamada-san?"

"No," was Tezuka's curt reply. "Even if I was, it would be none of your concern."

"Then what was that all about?" Oishi asked.

"She was simply informing me of what Ryuzaki-sensei wanted us to do on our first official day of practice," Tezuka replied. "Oishi, before you start your laps, tell the new comers to pick an open court and start hitting. Inui, do you already have a list of first years?"

"Hai," Inui responded.

"Before you start running your laps, confirm whether everyone who signed up is present and collect their physicals," Tezuka ordered. "Oishi, after practice we need to meet up with Ryuzaki-sensei. Now both of you get going. I have something to take care of so I'll be a couple minutes late," he said while walking back into the locker rooms. The two third years nodded their heads and started making their ways to the courts.

**A/N: Eh I was going to continue writing this chapter and make it longer but I didn't feel like it. Not really happy with this chapter. Again, sorry for the late update! I had my ACT on Saturday so I was busy studying for that. Now I'm sick :/ **

**Anyways please review, favorite, and follow.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews! Sorry for the long delay :( Anyways I hope you like this chapter! Apologize in advance for any mistakes made.**

**Summary: Miyoko may be a genius, but she has no clue when it comes to boys. Frankly, as the captain of Seigaku's girl's tennis team, she doesn't have time for them. However, Ryuzaki Sumire, aware of Miyoko's long term crush on Tezuka has given herself the task to get this unlikely pair together. And boy will she need some help. TezukaxOC, Rated T for language**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately don't own anything, well except for Miyoko.**

After Miyoko finished informing Tezuka on what he needed to do, she made her way to practice. Miyoko would never admit it to anyone, but she was nervous. Attention was something that she was not accustomed to, so the thought of all those people listening to her orders was definitely nerve racking. Miyoko remembered when the captain from last year, Suzuki Kiyomi, told her that she was entrusting the team to her.

*********FLASHBACK*********

_It was close to two o'clock when the regulars from the girl's tennis team decided to meet up at a popular restaurant. Tomorrow would be the last game the 3__rd__ years would be able to participate in before they left for their respective high schools. Miyoko sat beside her best friend and doubles partner, Shimabukuro Azusa. Azusa was slurping her miso ramen relatively loudly. _

"_Stop making those boorish noises, you idiotic swine," Miyoko mumbled while she chewed on some spicy bread. _

"_I don't want to hear that from you! You're the one talking with your mouth full with that stupid unsavory bread," Azusa countered. _

"_I assure you that this spicy bread is extremely tasty. Better than that shoddy ramen," Miyoko grumbled. Azusa and Miyoko continued bickering while the rest of the regulars just sweatdropped. _

"_The two of them just never stop do they?" Moriyo, a second year regular, whispered. The third years just shrugged their shoulders and continued eating their food. They were already used to Miyoko and Azusa's antics anyways. _

"_Guys, I really think you should stop them," Moriyo said, while scooting away from the fighting couple. "I think they're going to kill each other." _

"_I'll rip out your arm, cut your arm off with it, and beat you to death with said arm," Miyoko said slowly inching towards Azusa. _

"_I will donkey punch you so hard that your eyeballs will pop out of their sockets. I will then proceed to remove those sockets and use them as jump ropes," Azusa replied. _

"_I will dress you as lettuce and feed you to snails. It will be a very slow death." _

"_Oh Kami. MIYOKO-CHAN YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I HATE SNAILS!"_

"_Exactly."_

"…_don't make me bring it up, Miyoko-chan."_

"_I don't know what you're talking about."_

"_You know exactly what I'm talking about."_

"_Oh Kami. Azusa-chan, please don't do this."_

"…"

"…"

"_SQUIRREL."_

"…"

"…"

"_You promised you would never mention __**that retched name**__ ever____again."_

"_Well you brought up snails so we're even." _

_Throughout this whole ordeal, the tennis regulars stared at the two in silence. They knew that Miyoko and Azusa were crazy but this was a whole new level. This was maniacal. _

"_What's with the squirrels and snails?" Kiyomi, the captain of the girl's tennis team, asked in a baffled tone. _

"…_forget you heard anything," came the reply from both girls. _

"_You guys need help," the regulars said at the same time, still not recovered from the absurd conversation they just listened to. However, their attention channeled to their captain when she started to explain the purpose of their get together._

"_Anyways, squirrels and snails aside…" *insert Miyoko and Azusa shuddering*"…I did come here to clarify something important." Everyone automatically sobered up and gave their captain their complete and undivided attention. _

"_As you know tomorrow will be the last game us 3__rd__ years will play in our middle school careers. Taking that into account, I will need to appoint a new captain who I can pass the team down to. Between the three 2__nd__ years – Azusa-chan, Moriyo-chan, and Miyoko-chan- it was a difficult decision. However, after I calculated your individual qualities and asked Ryuzaki-sensei who she would recommend, we both came to the same conclusion. Congratulations Miyoko-chan, you are the new captain of Seigaku's girl's tennis team! Please take good care of them." Kiyomi exclaimed, patting Miyoko's head affectionately. _

_Miyoko's eyes widened after she heard Kiyomi-buchou's speech. She was definitely not expecting that. Miyoko stared at her captain in complete shock. _

"_**Is she stupid or something? I'm definitely not captain material!" **__Miyoko thought frantically. However, before she could speak her opinion about the matter, Kiyomi had already interrupted her. _

"_Any objections?" Kiyomi asked, glancing around the table. The remaining second years, Azusa and Moriya, both gave Miyoko wide smiles. _

"_Nope! You'll make an amazing captain Miyoko-chan!" Azusa exclaimed. Moriya nodded her head in agreement. _

"_**They've gone crazy…" **__Miyoko thought as she went back to eating her spicy bread. _

_********LATER********_

"_Wait just a minute! Why me?" Miyoko asked, frantically trying to keep up the with the taller girl's long strides. Kiyomi just gave her kohai a deadpan look. _

"_Because I chose you," Kiyomi replied bluntly. _

"_But it wouldn't be right for me to be captain-"_

"_Quit you're whining," Kiyomi said, cutting Miyoko off. "Weren't you the one that said you would lead this team to victory?"_

"_I just…" Miyoko said trailing off._

"_I want to entrust this team to you, Miyoko-chan. So stop making your damn excuses and go away. You need plenty of rest for tomorrow's match," Kiyomi said matter-of-factly. Miyoko just stared at Kiyomi in wonder. The captain just gave her a glare and pushed her in the direction of her house. _

"_Shoo! You're getting on my nerves."_

***********END FLASHBACK************

Miyoko smiled at the memory. She needed to catch up with Kiyomi-senpai sometime. Miyoko started to feel nervous when she saw the court. As the courts got closer, her steps became slower and slower until she finally came to a stop. She looked at the team- _her _team – doing their warm ups. Anxiety started to build up in her stomach, and Miyoko found herself wanting to flee in the opposite direction.

"_No, I can't do that. Kiyomi-senpai entrusted this team to me. I can't, under any circumstance, fail her," _Miyoko thought as she raised her head high and started taking confident steps toward her team. She opened the door of the fence surrounding the tennis courts and stepped in. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Miyoko as she walked to a bench to lay down her stuff. She could feel everyone's stare boring holes in the back of her head.

"Oh Kami, look it's Hamada-buchou!"

"What?! I thought she was a first year!"

"Shut up! Don't let her hear you say that or you're dead."

"Is she really that scary?"

"I once heard that she made two high school boys piss themselves with just one look. The scary part was that they were both 2 meters tall!" Miyoko smirked to herself. She mentally scarred those two boys good. The smirk vanished from her face and instead formed into a sinister smile when she realized what she had to do next. It was time for the annual motivation speech. However, instead of the typical 'We're going to win no matter what' speech, Miyoko had a different idea.

"Attention!" Miyoko yelled. Everyone who was not already aware of Miyoko's presence automatically stopped what they were doing and walked over to the small captain.

"If you don't already know who I am, my name's Hamada Miyoko. I'm the captain of this team and I look forward to playing tennis with all of you. However, before we can do that, I want you to be aware of the only rule we have in this club. I will _not, _under any circumstance, tolerate bullying or any other form of showing disrespect towards someone. If you have a problem with someone, come to me and I'll settle it. Understand?" Everyone nodded their heads vigorously.

"I'm warning you now, this club _is not easy._ There will be days where you are so tired, you won't be able to stand. Trust me, all of us second and third years have been there. Fortunately, all the hard work we accomplished in practice definitely improved our skills individually. We only expect people who put there all into what they want. So if you're not up to, leave now," Miyoko stated staring down the group of young girls. She could see out of the corner of her eye some girls leaving the courts and sighed to herself.

"_She hated this part. But, oh well, if they didn't leave now they would have left eventually,"_ Miyoko thought to herself.

"Is that all?" Miyoko asked, peering around the now smaller group. "Hmm okay, I guess that's everyone. Before we start warm ups, I want you to know what I expect out of all of you. Last year, I made a promise to the captain that I would lead this team to the nationals. If you're not willing to work as hard as you can to achieve that then you're free to go to another club. I highly recommend that all you have either some short-tern or long-term goals. Not only will this give you a metaphorical finish line but it will also motivate and stimulate your spirit, overall improving your skills."

"Now, without further ado, I need all players to hand in their physicals. If you don't have your physicals with you, then please sit this practice out and remember to bring it tomorrow," Miyoko explained as a line started to form in front of her.

"Once you've turned in your physicals, I want all first years on the first court, all second years on the second court, and all third years on the third court. Wait there for further instructions," Miyoko explained. Once Azusa and Moriya finally approached the front of the line, Miyoko pulled them aside and told them to wait there for a second. After the last physical was taken it, Miyoko turned to her two friends and gave them a small smile.

"Don't smile like that, it creeps me out. Actually I'm pretty sure it creeps everyone out," Azusa said with a deadpan look. Before Miyoko could retort, Moriya had already hit Azusa upside the head.

"Shut up Azusa-chan! Don't ruin her mood! Oh by the way, nice speech Miyoko-buchou. Kind of expected more people to leave though," Moriya said.

"Arigato, Moriya-chan. I pulled you two away because I have a favor to ask. I want to handle the first year's court since they're the newbies here. I won't have time to talk to all of the courts so I want Azusa-chan to handle the second years and Moriya-chan to handle the third year court. Just take them through the basic warm up stretches and have them run some laps. After that test their stamina however you deem necessary. I recommend sprinting. Then after that, have them practice some shots. By that time, I should be finished with the first years. If you're having any troubles, just call me over or something," Miyoko explained as she started heading towards the first court.

"Hai!"

Miyoko looked at the first years all huddled together at their respective court. She sighed when she saw that half of them were as tall as she was. This was going to be a long two hours.

************BREAK*************

Miyoko had to hold back a maniacal laugh as she observed the crumbled bodies littering the first court.

"Good job. You guys lasted longer than the first years last year," Miyoko stated. This statement however, only made them all groan. Wait, was that a growl? _"Savages…"_

"You're stamina training is done for today, so after a small water break you guys can practice you're shots," Miyoko explained as she started walking to other courts to check on the progress of the second and third years. She got to the second court and saw that Azusa was standing on one end of the court while the second years lined up on the opposite side. Azusa would send a ball to one of them and they would have to try and hit it back to the best of their abilities. A quick glance to the third court showed that Moriya was doing the same thing but at a higher pace. Miyoko observed each and every player and sized up their strengths and weaknesses. There were a couple second years that seemed to have potential to become regulars that year as she saw a tall second year perform a perfect volley.

"1 minute water break!" Azusa exclaimed. The second years stopped what they were doing and jogged to the benches to drink from their respective bottles. Miyoko stopped observing the players and instead focused her attention to Azusa who was making her wake towards Miyoko.

"Is there a reason you were especially brutal to the first years today? Isn't an hour and a half too much stamina training for their first practice?" Azusa asked as she looked down at Miyoko's small figure.

"They'll be fine," Miyoko stated blankly. They fell into a comfortable silence as they both got lost in their thoughts.

"…I'm sorry that I couldn't make it after school," Azusa suddenly said. Miyoko looked up at her friend and saw that she was avoiding eye contact. Miyoko huffed, annoyed at Azusa's behavior.

"There's no need to apologize baka. Your grandfather's in the hospital. That's not your fault, so just forget about it," Miyoko said gruffly.

"But-"

"Shut up. Practice is almost over, so just have the second years run a couple laps before practice ends," Miyoko instructed, heading towards Moriya to inform her to do the same. Azusa suddenly started laughing, causing Miyoko to stop. She looked back at Azusa and raised one eyebrow questionably, silently asking what the hell was wrong with her.

"You're a pretty good captain, Miyoko-_buchou_?" Azusa taunted, her face forming a wide grin.

"Don't be surprised when you find snails in your food tomorrow."

"AHHH MIYOKO-CHAN WHYYY?!"

**********BREAK***********

After Miyoko informed her teammates that there would be practice tomorrow morning, she headed to the locker rooms to take a quick shower before heading over to meet Ryuzaki-sensei. And Tezuka. Her stomach clenched at the thought of him. Miyoko still couldn't believe that she had an actual conversation with the stoic captain. She was kind of surprised she didn't end up embarrassing herself like 20 times during the short walk to the locker rooms.

Miyoko walked up to the classroom that Tezuka said that Ryuzaki-sensei wanted to meet and opened the door. The classroom looked like the ones they had in universities where the teacher would teach from the bottom of the classroom while the student's seats would gradually get higher as they approached the back of the room. Tezuka was sitting on the opposite side of the classroom near the windows, while Oishi was standing in the back of the room. Ryuzaki-sensei sat a row in front of Oishi while she spoke to him about something that Miyoko was clueless about.

"Oh, Miyoko, you're finally here! What took so long?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked, turning her attention to the small captain.

"I was taking a shower," Miyoko said as she moved to sit beside her coach. She reached in her bag and pulled out all the sports physicals she had collected and put them in front of Ryuzaki-sensei. Then she pulled a list with all the names of the first years and gave it to Ryuzaki-sensei.

"I counted the number of second and third year students who want to join," Miyoko told her. Ryuzaki-sensei then gave her the specific amount of forms she needed to fill out for each player. Miyoko, completely ignoring everyone's presence, dived into her work. This damn paperwork was going to take eternity and she had no plans on staying overtime to finish it. Time is of the essence.

"How is it, Tezuka?" Ryuzaki-sensei suddenly asked. Miyoko briefly looked up and saw that Tezuka had already started creating the blocks. Miyoko cursed under her breath. How could he already be that far ahead of her? "Found a way to evenly divide it into 4 blocks? This ranking match will be like determining the regular members for the district tournament. Must be tough."

"Yeah," Miyoko heard Tezuka say. Her heart skipped a beat at the sound of his deep smooth voice.

"I heard Ryuzaki-sensei has someone in mind. Like one of the freshman," Oishi said. Miyoko stiffened. Ryuzaki-sensei wanted Ryoma to become a regular? It wasn't entirely impossible and Miyoko was sure that if he tried hard enough he could earn a spot. However, the young first year still had much to learn.

"It doesn't matter what I think. Basically, our freshman can't play in ranking matched till the summer," Ryuzaki-sensei said.

"Well, that depends on the captain I guess," Oishi said as he pointedly looked in Tezuka's direction. He and Ryuzaki-sensei looked briefly at each other as if they had some secret telepathic connection. Could they have been more obvious?

"What you do think Miyoko? You've seen Echizen Ryoma-kun play in person" Ryuzaki-sensei asked, acknowledging her presence.

"You have?" Oishi asked, surprise lacing his words.

"I have. It doesn't matter what I think anyways," Miyoko replied, not looking up from the forms.

"Give us your opinion anyways! You're intelligent right?" Ryuzaki-sensei urged. She looked up and saw that Ryuzaki-sensei and Oishi were looking at her expectantly while Tezuka stopping scribbling vigorously indicating that she had his attention. Miyoko sighed deeply and continued writing while she informed them of her opinion of the young prodigy.

"The brat's arrogant and cocky. Two things I _really _hate. But putting that aside, Ryoma is indeed a prodigy. His stance is perfect, his serves are perfect, and his grip is adequate. At the current skill level that he is, I would say that he could beat a couple, maybe more, of your tennis regulars. He still has a long way to go. If I had a first year of that caliber join my team, I would definitely allow them to enter one of the four blocks. However, something about Ryoma doesn't seem right. I would need to delve further into the matter to be able to determine what exactly is wrong, but I'll leave that to the captain," Miyoko explained. Never once did her eyes stray from the forms in front of her. She could still, however, feel their prying eyes settle on her. Ryuzaki-sensei let out a small laugh.

"You never cease to amaze me. You got all that from watching one game?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked something akin to fascination in her eyes.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere old hag."

"WHO YOU CALLING OLD HAG YOU DWARF!?"

"I'M CALLING **YOU **AN OLD HAG! How old are you now? 56? 57? Or was it 58? It's so hard keeping track of your rapidly growing age."

"If you utter as much as one more syllable I will gut you like a fish," Ryuzaki-sensei hissed, her eyes forming into slits. Miyoko smiled and let out a small laugh. No matter how annoying Ryuzaki-sensei was, she never failed in making her day better. How exactly Ryuzaki-sensei's death threats make her day better she didn't know. Oishi and Tezuka stared at the two with unconcealed horror. Well actually that was only Oishi but you could bet Miyoko's small intestine that Tezuka was feeling it in the inside. Never in all their years at Seigaku had they seen Ryuzaki-sensei loose her cool that fast. And this small girl accomplished it in 2 seconds flat with only a few words.

"Shut up will you Baa-san. I need to finish these forms," Miyoko said as she finished up about half of the third year forms. Ryuzaki-sensei's face formed a frown.

"Will you be able to get home before dark? I don't want you to walk home by yourself. Will one of you walk her home once she's done? She lives near the Ministop," Ryuzaki-sensei said looking expectedly at the two boys. Miyoko's face automatically reddened.

"No seriously it's alright. I can walk home by myself even if it's da-"

"I'll take her," Miyoko heard Tezuka say. She whipped her head in his direction only to find him working diligently as always. "I live around there so it won't be a problem. I'll also be held up here for a while."

Miyoko was having a full blown panic attack. How was she supposed to walk with Tezuka for 15 minutes _alone? _She was so screwed; might as well start writing her will.

"_Sakuno can have all my clothes, she about the same height as me anyways. Azusa-chan can have all my manga. I know she will take good care of them. Moriya-chan can have tennis rackets I guess. I'll leave the tennis team to Azusa-chan," _Miyoko thought, mentally checking off all her possessions.

"Yeah that sounds fine! Who knew you lived near her?" Ryuzaki-sensei said in an overly cheerful tone. Miyoko's eyes widened. _She knew. The old hag knew this would happen. _

"Hey Hamada-chan, are you alright? There seems to be steam coming from your ears," was the last thing Miyoko heard before she started thinking of a list of ways to kill Ryuzaki-sensei slowly and painfully. Death by squirrels was surprisingly high on that list.

**A/N: Again, sorry for the late chapter! Hope you liked and make sure to review, favorite, and follow. Those always encourage me to write (: **

**Anyways next chapter will most likely be the walk home with Tezuka. If you have criticism or ideas of what I should write about in the future (fluff included) just leave it in a review or PM me. **

**Thank you and until next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! School stuff has been stressful and getting ready to apply for college is pretty stressful too . Still don't know where I wanna go yet… Anyways I really like this chapter for some reason, even though it is kinda short. I may have chuckled a couple time… HOPE YOU ENJOY (: **

**Rated T for Language**

**Disclaimer: Don't own PRINCE OF TENNIS!**

Miyoko was almost done with dividing her teammates into four blocks when she heard a weak knock at the door. She didn't look up from her charts but she could hear Ryuzaki-sensei get up and walk towards the door. Only when Miyoko heard Ryuzaki-sensei gasp did she remove her attention from the charts. The sight before her made her want to both laugh and hide under the table.

On the ground, lying in a crumbled mess was Ryuzaki Sakuno. Her face was turned towards the ground and her arms were splayed out in an awkward manner. Ryuzaki-sensei stared in confusion and slight horror at her exhausted granddaughter.

"O-Obaa-chan…I can't feel my legs," came Sakuno's frail voice.

"What happened?!" Ryuzaki-sensei asked frantically as she leaned down to help Sakuno up. Miyoko could take a guess at what happened…

"Tennis practice…too m-much…c-couldn't breathe…" Sakuno stuttered as Ryuzaki-sensei sat her in a chair. Ryuzaki-sensei slowly averted her attention to Miyoko who was still working diligently not at all affected by what just transpired.

"Miyoko-chan, don't you think you took it a little far?"

"I did what was necessary," Miyoko replied. "I'm preparing them." Ryuzaki-sensei eyed her warily and walked back to her seat mumbling something about giving innocent first years PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

She looked up to see that Tezuka had already finished. He was reading the same book that he was reading in class earlier today and Miyoko found that she still was curious as to what the title was. _Maybe we have similar book interests… _

Miyoko blushed as she remembered why he was staying overtime. She didn't want him to walk her home. What if she's too awkward for him? What if he thinks she's weird? What if he thinks I'm crazy? It took all of Miyoko's willpower to not slam her head on her desk.

Miyoko looked down at her paper and realized that she was finished. A feeling of dread came raining down on her. Hard.

"Ano…I think I'm finished," Miyoko said meekly trying to act like she was reading over her work when she was secretly trying to see how Tezuka would react. Miyoko could barely tell but she _thinks _that she saw his shoulders _kind of _tense up. It was probably her imagination though.

"Great! You and Tezuka can go on ahead and leave I'll review both of your blocks and tell you tomorrow whether they were fine," Ryuzaki-sensei said as Miyoko handed her the papers. She grabbed her bag and turned towards the door where Tezuka was already waiting for her. 

They walked side by side down the abandoned hallway. Miyoko looked out the window to her left to see that the sun was close to setting. The sky was decorated with colors and the clouds were few. Overall, the sight was very beautiful. She looked to her right at the tall stoic male and couldn't help but blush. After two long years of avoiding him, Miyoko finally had some alone time. Fifteen minutes of alone time to be exact. She gulped, gripping the strap of her bag tightly.

"W-What was that book you were reading?" Miyoko asked, her tone very out of character. She looked at the ground causing her bangs to cover her beet red face.

"You have probably never heard of it," Tezuka stated glancing down at the flustered girl. Miyoko huffed silently, slightly put off by his comment.

"Try me," Miyoko said staring back into his chocolate brown eyes.

"1Q84 by Murakami Haruki." Miyoko furrowed her brows in thought.

"I've read some of Murakami's works but I've never read 1Q84," Miyoko said softly, secretly glad that they finally had something to talk about. By this time they had left the school building and started walking on the sidewalk occasionally passing bicyclists or joggers.

"You would like 1Q84," Tezuka declared rather confidently.

"What's it about?"

"It is hard to explain. I have found that it is better suited for woman," Tezuka said. Miyoko frowned.

"So you don't like it?"

"I do," he said curtly. Miyoko nodded to herself, accepting his short answer. She was not one to get emotionally involved into a book and so she was kind of grateful that he didn't delve too far into a response. Miyoko was great at many things; looking in between the lines was not one of them. "What books have you read from Murakami?"

"My dad got me into A Wild Sheep Chase. It was pretty odd but I loved the adventure that the narrator went on. My favorite of Murakami's would probably be Sputnik Sweetheart. I really liked the mixture of mystery and romance," Miyoko said. She looked up at Tezuka, "You probably wouldn't have like that one." Tezuka nodded his head and looked as if he was analyzing something.

"I have read A Wild Sheep Chase," Tezuka said. "I liked it too."

"You should let me borrow 1Q84 sometime. I would love to re-" Miyoko stopped midstep and Tezuka watched as horror filled her eyes. He didn't show any outward emotion but inside Tezuka was as confused as a chicken in a pillow factory. He looked at where her gaze was frozen at. If Tezuka was a lesser man he probably would have sighed or maybe even laughed. But the Earth was still spinning and the grass was still green and Tezuka didn't want to mess any of that shit up so he decided to keep to himself and stare at what was blocking their path.

A squirrel.

Now dear reader, we all saw this coming. If this were an ordinary story, Miyoko would be terrified of the squirrel and Tezuka (being the awesome gentleman he was) would sweep her into his arms and protect her from all danger (including squirrel). However, this is no ordinary story and no ordinary characters. So expect to see stupidity and ridiculous for the next couple (or dozen) paragraphs.

What does one do when faced by their greatest fear? The most logical answer would be to run but Miyoko knew that was for cowards. On the other hand, she could face her fears and defeat the _thing _standing in her way. Yet that would require effort, and Miyoko was too lazy (scared) for effort at the moment. So that left one thing. "What is that one thing?" you may ask. Two words—FACE OFF.

"So, _thing,_ we meet again," Miyoko said her voice dark and face gloomy. Tezuka, on the other, was extremely confused and kind of amused at the small girls antics.

"Tezuka-san stay back," Miyoko said pushing him behind her with her arm. "I'll take care of this _monster_."

"What is wrong?" Tezuka asked, desperately trying to the grasp onto the motives of the small girl. Miyoko looked up at him as if he was the stupidest person she knew.

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG?! WHAT'S WRONG IS THAT THIS _MONSTER_ IS ABOUT TO EAT US AND I'M GONNA CHALLENGE THIS MOTHERFUCKING _DEMON _TO A FACE OFF AND SACRAFICE MYSELF FOR THE GREATER GOOD," Miyoko shouted, her chest heaving up and down. Tezuka just blinked slowly at her.

"_This girl…is the craziest person I have ever met…" _Tezuka thought.

"Just stay back and let me handle i-it," Miyoko stated firmly, her voice only wobbling a little bit. Tezuka stepped back allowing her to have some space to do whatever crazy thing she was planning.

**OoOoOoOoOoO**

*Short Interlude*

Squirrel Thoughts: What the hell is wrong with this fucking puny ass bitch?

*End Short Interlude*

**OoOoOoOoOoO**

"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," Miyoko mumbled sending a vicious glare in Tezuka's direction. Tezuka put his hands up in mock surrender further angering Miyoko. "…Anyways, monster, it is time to face your doom. No more will your kind torture me both mentally and physically. We humans can crush your tiny spines in half if we so choose. So do you except my challenge to a face off or would you rather live and go back to your _monster _nest?" Miyoko said, cracking her knuckles for dramatic effect.

"Hamada-san, what are y-"

"Don't interrupt me Tezuka-san. I don't want to see you hurt."

Miyoko looked the squirrel in the eye and gave it her most menacing glare. Damn squirrel won't ever get in her way again after she's done with it.

"I will take your silence as a yes so prepare yourself _demon_!" Miyoko shouted giving out a small war cry before sprinting towards the squirrel with the purpose of punting it like a football. However, before she even took two steps a giant hand grabbed the end of her shirt lifting Miyoko off the ground. She helplessly kicked the air as Tezuka carried her away from the squirrel. He promptly let her go and she landed gracefully like a cat (more like landing gracefully like a fish out of water).

"What the hell man?"

"You are acting like a child."

"Damn right I am. Demons like that _thing _don't deserve to walk (or I suppose crawl) on the planet!"

"What has this squirrel ever done to you?" Tezuka snapped.

"SHHH don't say the S word! And you don't want to know the cruel experiences I've had with these _monsters,_" Miyoko said, glaring defiantly at the taller male. "I'd like to see YOU come up with a better plan!" Tezuka simply shrugged and walked over to a nearby tree and plucked something from it. Miyoko had to strain to see what was in his hand and eventually saw that it was an acorn. _Their life force. _

Miyoko watched as Tezuka slowly walked up to the _thing _as if not scare it. She gulped unintentionally when Tezuka knelt in front of it and dropped the acorn right in front of the _thing. _The _thing _quickly grabbed the acorn and scampered off into a nearby tree. Tezuka threw a pointed look over his shoulders at her and reality came crashing down on her.

"_I just completely embarrassed myself in front of my crush. Good job, Miyoko," _Miyoko though as her whole face turned beet red from embarrassment.

"You saw nothing. You heard nothing. You remember nothing. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

**A/N: DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW, FAVORITE, AND FOLLOW (:**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and follows! This is more of a filler chapter but I really enjoyed writing it! (: Sorry for any grammatical errors. I just finished reading through it twice but knowing me I probably skipped over everything important. **

_Italics _= Thoughts

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OC.**

Every time Miyoko is faced with an embarrassing situation, she does her best to put it behind her and act like it never happened. Naturally, she did the same with this "Squirrel Incident." So when she arrived at school the next day and saw Tezuka sitting in his chair she did not panic and she did not have a PTSD flashback. What she did do was quietly walk to her chair and sit down.

"I'm sorry you had to see that yesterday…" Miyoko grumbled not even looking in Tezuka's general direction.

"It is alright. Strange but interesting," Tezuka said looking at Miyoko's slumped form. He took this time to take in her small frame. Her black hair was still damp from her shower that she probably took after practice this morning. Strands of her hair covered her face so that it was impossible for him to see what kind of expression she was making. Miyoko suddenly sits up straight and looks at Tezuka with a warm smile. He tenses at her expression, not expecting such an eager reaction to his previous statement.

"Really?" Miyoko asks her eyes literally dancing with joy. _He doesn't hate me! _Tezuka looks at his desk to avoid her intense eyes.

"Yeah…" She smiles again and reaches for her bag. "I am guessing you got home alright then?"

"Uh huh! I only needed to walk like a couple minutes from where you left me to get home," Miyoko says as she lays all her supplies on her desk. "I forgot to ask how your practice went yesterday."

"It was normal," Tezuka states, still not looking at Miyoko. "And yours?"

"It was…fun. At first I didn't think that being captain was suited for me, but I enjoyed it surprisingly. I really don't want to mess up," Miyoko said, fire burning behind her eyes. Tezuka was tempted to sweat drop but that would be unbecoming of him. However, he did agree with her. He wanted to put everything he had into his team and it seems that Miyoko wants to as well.

"Did you decide to put Ryoma-kun in the ranking match?" Miyoko asked.

"I did. He shows potential," Tezuka says. Miyoko nods her head in understanding. At that time Domoto-sensei walked in and the class quieted down. Miyoko all of a sudden became very aware of the many death glares being sent in her direction. She didn't even have to look up to realize that it was Tezuka's fanclub. She sweat drops comically.

_This is going to be one long class. _

*********BREAK*********

Weeks had passed since the "Squirrel Incident" and Miyoko kept her contact with Tezuka limited. She didn't want to make an even bigger fool out of herself. At the moment she was sitting in Ryuzaki-sensei's office discussing the upcoming ranking matches for the girl's tennis team. It was stressing her out more than it should. Miyoko needed an _amazing _team before she could even think of attending nationals.

"When are the matches anyway?" Miyoko asked out of curiosity. Ryuzaki-sensei hummed casually.

"You decide. I have already signed up both teams for the regional tournament," Ryuzaki-sensei said as she scribbled something out on the paper she was writing on.

"When is that?"

"In about 3 weeks," Ryuzaki-sensei replied. Miyoko hummed thoughtfully. She didn't want to hold the ranking matches at the same time as the boys but she didn't want to wait too late either. After ranking matches were finished she also needed the regulars to decide who would play doubles and who would play singles.

"And when is the boy's ranking matches?"

"Today's Monday right? Then they are being held tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday," Ryuzaki-sensei said distractingly. Miyoko smiles to herself.

"That's perfect! Then I think next week would be a good time to hold our ranking matches," Miyoko said already planning to announce this information to the team at practice. She had already posted a list of everyone that would participate so that's out of the way. Ryuzaki-sensei had already approved her blocks but she still wanted to show them to Azusa-chan to see if she approved too.

"Alrighty, sounds good!" Ryuzaki-sensei exclaims not even looking up from the paper she was scribbling away at. Miyoko furrowed her eyebrows, curious as to what she was up to.

"What are you working on?"

"…none of your business," she grumbled. Miyoko twitched.

"Whatever. It's not like I care anyway," Miyoko harrumphed and turned to leave the room with every intention to go to practice.

_That damn old hag is more grumpy than usual. _

"I HEARD THAT YOU MIDGET. JUST WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU," Ryuzaki-sensei screeched from inside her office. Miyoko was already in the hallway but that didn't stop her from replying.

"GROSS! I DON'T WANT YOUR GRUBBY HANDS ON ME."

*********BREAK*********

Practice was as gruesome as ever. Miyoko was pushing the team members playing in the ranking matches the hardest while she left the remaining members to Azusa-chan. She wanted to prepare them to the best of her abilities. One thing that Miyoko noticed she did differently than her previous captains was that she didn't separate the current regulars from the normal team members. She was a firm believer that everyone had a chance and she wanted the regulars to be treated normally, not like they were above the other players. Miyoko also needed to announce that the team won't be able to use the courts in the afternoon so there will be only morning practices. She never realized what a hassle in-school ranking matches were.

Azusa-chan had left early to attend to her grandfather at the hospital so she was left to wrap up practice and send everyone home. She didn't mind though. Azusa-chan was really worried about him even though his situation had stabilized tremendously. Miyoko smiled in relief. She might despise the baka sometimes but she would never wish for anything bad to happen to her best friend.

Miyoko was headed to the gates of the school when she saw a familiar person already waiting there. Momoshiro Takeshi. She sighed deeply hoping that he wouldn't see her.

"Miyoko-senpai!" Damn it. She pretended she couldn't see or hear him and continued walking away at a slightly faster pace.

"Hey wait! Miyoko-senpai, wait!" She sighed again. _What a pest. _Miyoko sharply turned so that she was facing him and gave him the most intimidating look she could muster in her tired state. He visibly flinched back at her look.

"AHHHH DEMON!" Momoshiro-san screeched covering his face. Miyoko prided herself at her ability to make him so scared but she was simply not in the mood to talk to him at the moment.

"If you'll excuse me Momoshiro-san, I'll be on my way," Miyoko said coolly as she turned away and started walking again towards her destination.

"Wait! And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Momo. I just wanted to ask if you are coming to watch the boy's ranking matches," Momoshiro-san says in one big breath. Miyoko stops walking and turns to look at the now excited boy. _He seems pretty excited for the matches…_

"I don't see why it matters if I come," Miyoko states in a bored tone. At his discouraged expression she adds, "If there are any interesting matches I'll definitely drop by if I have time."

He smiles broadly obviously happy with her answer. She rolls her eyes at his ridiculousness. Miyoko doesn't understand how her attendance would change anything but she is curious as to who Tezuka has paired together. Speaking of Tezuka…

"Momo, Hamada-san." She stiffens and finally looks behind Momoshiro-san to see Tezuka standing there with the regulars not too far behind. Miyoko automatically looked away not knowing how to react. She was sure her ears were red.

"Tezuka-buchou!" Momoshiro-san exclaims just as surprised as Miyoko. "I was just asking Miyoko-senpai here if she was coming to the ranking matches tomorrow."

"And?" Tezuka asks. What surprised her was this question was aimed at her not Momoshiro-san. Miyoko shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly even though her insides were a jumbled mess.

"If I have time I will. I'm interested as to who will be playing against each other…" Miyoko said trailing off towards the end. Tezuka gave her a small nod.

"Good." With that he started walking away. Her face heated up in literally 0.2 seconds. _GOOD?! _As this was all happening, the tennis regulars were watching curiously. This was the girl that they thought Tezuka was about to go on a date with a couple weeks ago.

Miyoko turned around to see that Tezuka had stopped walking about 5 meters from her and was now looking at her over his shoulder. His eyebrows were slightly raised in question.

"What?" Miyoko asked in a confused tone.

"Are you coming or what?" She stared at him. He stared at her. It felt like they stood there for eternity just staring at each other. _He wants to walk home with me again? I want to ask him why but I don't want to ruin this, whatever this is… _So Miyoko, pushing her nerves to the side, picked up her pace so that she was standing beside him.

The regulars stood back and looked at the retreating back of the two captains. They were shocked. They had never seen Tezuka-buchou act like that with a girl.

"So…are they dating or something?"

"Shut up, Eiji."

"Seriously though, has Tezuka-buchou told you anything Oishi?" Eiji asked turning towards the co-captain. Oishi shrugged his shoulder.

"He never mentioned anything about Hamada-san to me," Oishi said just as confused as the others. Kaido just scoffed.

"If he did choose her, he has bad choice in women. She's too delicate to be Tezuka-buchou's girlfriend," Kaido explains, shoving his hand in his pockets, already uninterested about the subject.

"Hahahaha that's probably the funniest thing I've heard all day!" Momo says as he bursts out laughing. "Miyoko-senpai is hands down the most terrifying human being I have yet to meet."

Every single regular member sweatdropped at Momo's theatrics, excluding Oishi who had been able to seen a brief glimpse of her true powers.

"I can see why you would be scared of a tiny girl like her, you pansy," Kaido retorted as he smirked at Momo's angry face.

"Just you wait Kaido-baka. Once you're exposed to her anger, you'll regret ever doubting my judgment!"

"Whatever."

*********BREAK*********

This is great. Miyoko loved walking with Tezuka. Most would think it awkward to walk in complete silence but Miyoko found herself enjoying his company. She looked at him from the corner of her eye and saw that he had his face set in his normal expression. But it did seem a bit more peaceful than normal. She smiled to herself, happy that he was enjoying the silence too.

"Do you still want to borrow 1Q84?" Tezuka said in a low voice startling her from her trance.

"Hai, if you wouldn't mind," Miyoko replied, glad that he remembered their previous conversation. "Did you like it?"

"I did. I think you will too," Tezuka adds as he reaches into his bag to pull out the huge book from his bag. Miyoko gingerly takes it from him.

"Sorry it might take me a while to read it…" Miyoko said sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. He shakes his head indicating that it was alright. It was a pretty big book; coming up to about 900 pages.

"It is hard to put down once you start it," Tezuka admits. Miyoko grunted, too busy to actually respond considering that she was reading the back of the book cover while still walking. The next thing she knows she trips and lands splat on her face. It was _painful. _She gets up on her hands and knees and splutters at the ground in shock. Miyoko looked up at Tezuka who had stopped walking and saw that his mouth had somewhat tightened around the corners. Why it tightened she didn't know. Was it because he was concerned? Or maybe because he was trying to hold back his laughter? Either way, she didn't like it. She scrunched her face while she got up and dusted herself off. Then she probably said the most stupid thing that came to her mind. Now that Miyoko thinks about it, she was acting exactly like a child would.

"You tripped me."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You, Tezuka Kunimitsu, just tripped me."

"I was standing nowhere near you, Hamada-san." Now she was angry. She didn't like it when he called her Hamada-san. Why couldn't he just call her Miyoko like everyone else? She knew that she wasn't being logical. He was just trying to be polite but calling her Hamada-san made it seem like he didn't want to be friends. Miyoko sighed deeply as she picked up the book Tezuka was letting her borrow. _Ugh, why am I being so complicated? I hate feeling this way. _

"Sorry, it's been a long day," Miyoko said as she begins to walk again. She wanted to change the topic. "Are you ready for the ranking matches?" He gives her a skeptical look that said that he knew exactly what she was up to. However, he humors her and answers the question.

"I am ready. However, I am curious to see how everyone else is going to do," he replied. Miyoko nodded in understanding feeling the same way. "When are your ranking matches?"

"Next week. I didn't think it would be a good idea to do it the same week as you guys and I didn't want to postpone it too much," Miyoko explained. "Ryuzaki-sensei said that she already signed us up for the regional tournament so I also want to prepare everyone for that as soon as possible."

Tezuka found that Miyoko thought a lot like him. She prepared ahead and her team came before anything. Miyoko moved her hand to tuck some hair behind her ear almost shyly.

"Ano, if you want to you can come. BUT I MEAN ONLY IF YOU WANT TO! You don't have to, I mean like if you're busy or something it's totally cool if you can't and—"

"I will try."

Miyoko stopped rambling long enough to hear his response. Her hand froze where it was playing with the ends of her hair. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. _He wants to see me play. Well technically he wants to see the ranking matches…BUT STILL, HE WANTS TO SEE ME PLAY. _

She looks up to see the Ministop that marks the place where they usually separate and head to their homes.

"Let me give you my number. I want to know when you get home," Tezuka said all of a sudden. Miyoko was pretty sure anyone within a 5 feet radius would be able to feel the heat rolling off her face. She scrunched up her face in embarrassment.

"You don't have to do that. My house is only a couple minutes from here and I can take care of myself," Miyoko mumbled. She knew she was being unreasonable but she didn't need anyone's pity. Especially his.

"I insist." Miyoko looked at him cautiously and came to the conclusion that he wouldn't let her go home until she gave him her number. _Why does he have to be so stubborn?_

So with nervous hands she reaches into her bag to acquire her green phone and hands it to Tezuka. He flips it open and she can hear him type his number in. Why is she so nervous? So what if he cares if I get him home safe? Any guy would do that…

After he was finished he handed the phone back to Miyoko. Miyoko looked at the ground, too embarrassed to even glance at him.

"Thanks…I-I think that I should go now. You know homework and stuff."

"I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that he turned around and started to walk in the direction of his house. It took a lot of effort for Miyoko to move her feet from their current spot and start walking towards her house too.

_Why? Why is my heart beating so fast?_

**A/N: Please review, favorite, and follow! I know this chapter is a little short but I didn't want to get into the juicy stuff till next time because then this chapter would be wayyyy to long. Anyways, next chapter will be the boys ranking matches and then the chapter after that will be the girls ranking matches. I don't think there will be too much fluff between Miyoko and Tezuka then so I wanted to give you guys a little treat before that (: And I will also introduce Ryuzaki-sensei's scheming ways somewhere in the near future. **

**THANKS FOR READING (: **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thanks for all the favorites and follows (: **

**A super long chapter for a super long wait ;)**

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OC'S!**

Ryuzaki Sumire was tired. She didn't know why considering she got plenty of sleep last night.

Now she found herself back in her office staring out the window observing the courts. Fuji and Oishi were conversing to themselves about some unknown subject while Inoue and Eiji were practicing their shots in the first court. The rest of the regulars were nowhere to be seen.

Sumire sighed deeply. She realized that she was spending a great amount of time working with the boy's team and neglecting the girl's. Miyoko didn't mention anything about it but Sumire knew that was only because Miyoko thought that she alone could handle the brute stress that running a club could produce. "_Maybe I should get an assistant coach…"_

But who? As much as Sumire hated to admit, Miyoko didn't really need a coach. She knew what she was doing and was proficient in finding the perfect schedule/workout for each individual player. Sumire still felt bad leaving all the work to her. She did help Miyoko when she was a first year and still a beginner at tennis. She smiled to herself remembering how bad Miyoko used to be back then…

Thinking about Miyoko suddenly brought up the last conversation she had with the tiny tennis captain.

*_Flashback*_

"_Nani?!"_

"_You heard me Ryuzaki-sensei," Miyoko said calmly as she sipped some tea at the local bakery. Ryuzaki Sumire had finally fulfilled her promise to get her some chocolate cake for dragging her to that stupid tournament to see Echizen Ryoma. Miyoko was disappointed because she liked Ryuzaki-sensei's cake the most but she wasn't complaining. Cake is cake. Plus Ryuzaki-sensei knew the people who owned this bakery so they would always get the cakes for a lower price. _

"_I've been spending all of last year and this year trying to perfect this tennis technique with Nee-san (big sister) and Otouto (little brother) being my test subjects. But they would always just stand in one place so I don't know how it will work on a moving person…and that's where you come in." _

"_Are you not going to tell me what it is?" _

"_No! It has to be a surprise. Just you wait Ryuzaki-sensei; I'll knock the old right out of you!"_

"_You disgust me." _

"_Tomorrow morning then?"_

_*End Flashback*_

Sumire was surprised considering that Miyoko had never actually come up with her own signature move before. Miyoko's arsenal, if you would call it, consisted mostly of other peoples abilities. She didn't have a _signature _move that she was known for. Don't get her wrong; Sumire knew that Miyoko was talented in many ways. Her unique ability to pin point her opponent's weakness could not be challenged by anyone. Sumire was just concerned that Miyoko was becoming too predictable. If she wanted to even _qualify _for nationals, she had to conjure up some sort of trump card.

Hopefully whatever Miyoko has planned will be enough to defeat the many talented players that she will have to face in the near future.

***********BREAK***********

Miyoko was running late…as usual. She was supposed to meet Ryuzaki-sensei 5 minutes ago and she still hadn't even reached the school. She was tempted to start running but that was too much effort so she kept walking at a steady pace.

Once she reached the school ground she immediately started to make a bee line for the courts, not even bothering to change into appropriate tennis clothes. Miyoko was late enough as she was; she didn't want to piss off the hag more.

Miyoko stopped when she saw Ryoma and his other first year friends standing beside a sitting Kaido. She frowned. She was so not in the mood for this.

"Stop slacking off! Now go!" said Kaido. Miyoko could hear him even from where she was standing.

"Hai! Excuse us!" came three unanimous answers. Ryoma still remained standing there for a bit before he too scurried off. He passed her without even a glance in her direction. Miyoko just shrugged it off and continued walking in a brisk pace. When she finally reached Kaido's location she glanced down at him. He frowned deeply and made that _irritating _expression that seemed to be permanently glued to his face. Miyoko growled and stepped closer to the little _shithead. _She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up so they were face level.

His eyes widened a little, surprised by the sheer strength of the small captain. _"S-Since when was she this strong?" _Her eyes seemed to turn into red slits while her short hair swirled viciously around her face.

"If you ever look at me like that again shitface I'll rearrange your face so that you are physically INCAPABLE to make that expression ever again."

And with that, Miyoko dropped the stunned boy and stomped away grumbling things under her breath. He couldn't hear what she was exactly saying but he caught snippets.

"Well I oughta…the nerve of that baka…no respect for senpai's…"

When Miyoko finally showed up to the courts she saw Ryuzaki-sensei impatiently standing at the entrance.

"You have a lot of nerve showing up late to a meeting _you _set up," Ryuzaki-sensei mumbled as she headed into the court ahead of Miyoko. "Let's get started already. School's going to start soon."

Miyoko nodded her head in agreement and took out her tennis racket from her bag. It was a pretty normal tennis racket. Not cheap to buy but also not too expensive. Not too heavy and not too light. It was just perfect. She walked to her end of the court grabbing some tennis balls on the way.

"So is this a match?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked curiously and she bends her knees into a perfect receiving stance. Miyoko hummed thoughtfully.

"Not really. It shouldn't take much longer than a couple serves."

"So is it some kind of special serve?"

"No it's not a serve. It's a move I would do when receiving a hit."

Ryuzaki-sensei nodded to herself in understanding. Miyoko's serves didn't need work and she knew that. It was normally her stamina and reflexes that Miyoko normally worried about. Miyoko adjusted her serving stance so that she could hit the ball with maximum speed and strength.

She threw the ball above her and timed it so that the ball would hit somewhere between the middle and top of her racket. It flew towards the outer line and Ryuzaki-sensei had to sprint in order to reach it in time.

Ryuzaki-sensei hit it back fairly easy and Miyoko hit it back just the same. This continued on for some while before Miyoko finally deemed it time to bring out her new ability. Hopefully it works. She spent so long trying to perfect it and even now it was still difficult and frustrating for her to actually accomplish. _"Troublesome…" _

Miyoko looked at Ryuzaki-sensei's eyes to see where they were positioned and in a blink of an eye Miyoko hit the ball giving it a little spin so that she could hit it in the exact spot she needed it to go.

All of a sudden, Ryuzaki-sensei stopped moving and her eyes widened in astonishment. _"Nani?! Where did it go? I was just looking at it!" _Miyoko smirked to herself and laughed in joy as the ball went past Ryuzaki-sensei as planned.

"It worked! It really worked!" Miyoko yelled. She smiled big as she took notice of the confused look on Ryuzaki-sensei's face.

"Whaaa…" Ryuzaki-sensei couldn't form words as she stared at the elated teen. She was confused.

"So, what do you think?" Miyoko asked trying to act serious once again but it was kind of difficult to take the grin off her face.

"What did you do? I was staring at the ball one second and then it was gone the next! I know it wasn't going fast enough to just zoom past me so what was it?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked scratching her head in confusion.

"Yeah it wasn't meant to just speed past you. It was meant to disappear from your line of view. I call it Shinkiro," Miyoko explained as she went to put her racket away in her bag.

"The Mirage?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked. "It seems like a good name for it, but _how _did you do it?"

"It was troublesome, but I was finally able to perfect it. Shinkiro is a move where I have to examine my opponent's blind spots and hit the ball in one of those spots so it seems that the ball has disappeared," Miyoko explained as she stood in front of her coach.

"B-But that's impossible! How were you able to determine my blind spots in such a short amount of time? Aren't blind spots supposed to be really small?" Ryuzaki-sensei couldn't believe the amount of potential that Miyoko must have if she was able to perform a move of such high caliber while in _junior high. _

"Like I said, it's a super troublesome move and I can't do it a majority of time. The only reason I was able to determine your blind spots so easily was because I have been playing with you as my opponent for two years now. If it was an opponent from another school, I would have to observe for at least half of the match."

"And what about the blind spots?"

"You're right in the fact that they're small. To be exact, blind spots are located about 12-15 from the temporal lobe of your brain and 1.5 below your horizontal view. The size is roughly 7.5 high and 5.5 wide. Considering these numbers it would be impossible to make the tennis ball completely disappear but I've found a way to do it. The opponent's eye will move with the ball so that means the blind spot is constantly changing. I hit the ball in a place that is in their target blind spot and when they move their eyes where the ball should be it will _still _be in their blind spot."

Ryuzaki-sensei gapped at her. Impossible. Miyoko was truly a genius if she was able to come up with this and actually be able to go through with it. Ryuzaki-sensei found herself overwhelmed with pride for the midget. She reached down to shuffle Miyoko's hair just the way she hated it.

"Oi don't go crying on me hag," Miyoko muttered pushing Ryuzaki-sensei's hand away.

"I'm so proud of you that I don't even care that you called me that."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Okay, I kind of care."

***********BREAK***********

"Now guys your test on this chapter will be tomorrow so don't forget!" Domoto-sensei said before the bell finally rang signally their freedom. Miyoko stuffed everything into her bag and got up from her seat. She normally waited for Tezuka so they could walk to practice together but he had ranking matches to attend to and he seemed busy talking to some classmates. So instead, she headed to the 3-3 classroom to meet up with Azusa and Moriyo. Miyoko was still mad about the fact that they all weren't in the same class.

"Hey Miyoko-senpai!"

Miyoko turned around to see who was calling her name and saw Sakuno and her friend running towards her.

"What is it Sakuno-chan?" Miyoko watched as the two girls bent over with their hands on their knees trying to catch their breath.

"Sakuno-chan why did you start running off like that?!" Sakuno's friend choked out. Miyoko took this time to observe the young girl. She had brown hair like Sakuno but it was put up in two high pigtails. The girl was also dressed in a normal girl's uniform.

"I was trying to catch up to Miyoko-senpai, Tomo-chan," Sakuno replied. "Anyways, Miyoko-senpai, are you going to the ranking matches today? I know you said we didn't have practice today so I was just wondering…"

Miyoko was tempted to smile at the cute girl. Sakuno was still nervous around her for some reason, maybe because she went so hard on her in practice. She shouldn't take that too personally though… Miyoko goes hard on everyone.

"Hai. I'm about to go meet Azusa and Moriyo-chan so we can go watch them," Miyoko explained to the two girls. Suddenly, 'Tomo-chan' gasped and points at Miyoko.

"You're Hamada Miyoko, aren't you?!" Miyoko frowned at the girl in confusion.

"I am."

"Aren't you dating Tezuka-san?"

Miyoko coughed really loudly as her face went beet red. She started shaking her hands in front of her face trying to say something back but her mouth refused to form words.

"N-Nani?! Of course we're not! Where did you hear that?"

"I heard Momo-senpai talking about you guys walking home together so I just assumed…" Miyoko growled. That baka. She was going to kill him next time she sees him.

"Don't listen to anything that baka says. I'm sorry, but I need to meet up with my friends. I'll see you later," Miyoko says quickly and walks away. Sakuno stared at her retreating captain and frowned thoughtfully. Why was Miyoko-senpai acting so defensive?

***********BREAK***********

Azusa, Miyoko, and Moriyo stood outside the courts examining the matches. They had already been there for 1 hour just watching the matches for the Block D members. Azusa hummed to herself.

"The boys have a lot of nice meat this year."

"Eww don't say it like that Azusa-chan, it's gross!"

"Come on Mori-chan, I know you've been checking Oishi-san out."

"W-WHAT, NO I WASN'T."

Miyoko laughed at Azusa's teasing. Azusa would always make fun of Moriyo's shy nature and it was kind of adorable how defensive she became.

"Anyways, Azusa is right. They have some good guy's this year," Miyoko said thoughtfully. She had yet to see Tezuka play yet, but he might not have any matches today.

"I think that first year is going to be playing Kaido-san soon though," Azusa said while trying to read the scoreboard from where she was perched. The three girls had decided to sit away from all the spectators because there were _a lot._

"Oh that sounds interesting," Moriyo said. Miyoko nodded her head in agreement. She wasn't too sure how that match would turn out. Even though he was really annoying, Kaido's style was dangerous. If either one underestimated the other, they were going to be in a world of pain.

"Who do you think is going to win Miyoko-chan?" Moriyo asked.

"I don't know."

"Awhh come on Miyoko! You always know who's going to win," Azusa whined. Her blonde curls instead of being in their usual ponytail were surrounding her petite face. Miyoko was jealous of the length of her hair. While Miyoko's hair reached her shoulders, Azusa's hair reached her elbows. Moriyo's hair was not too different from Azusa's lengthwise. The only thing that was different was the color.

"How the hell did you get that idea? I can't predict the outcome of every single match dumbass."

"Don't need to be so mean about it," Azusa said with a mock frown on her face. Miyoko just rolled her eyes and diverted her attention to the match.

***********BREAK***********

It was the next day of the boys ranking match and Miyoko was less than swell. Her stomach had started to hurt again this morning when she was walking to class. It wasn't as bad as before but it still reminded her that she needed to check that out with her dad sometime. Her dad was a doctor at Sougoubyouyin United Hospital and he would probably know what's wrong with her.

She sighed and pressed her warm forehead on the desk. She had already finished her test and was now waiting for everyone else to finish. _"I don't think I should go to the ranking matches today…I don't feel too well."_

The bell rang and there was a unanimous groan from almost every student in the class. Everyone got up and went to the front of the classroom to hand in the test. Miyoko had to go and talk to Ryuzaki-sensei about some things regarding the teams funding which was always a pain in the ass. She spotted Tezuka waiting for her outside the door and had to fight the urge to smile, even in her miserable state.

"Sorry, but I won't be able to watch today," Miyoko explained to him. Tezuka didn't show any outward expression at her statement so she assumed he wasn't too beat up about her absence.

"Are you going home then?"

"No, I have to talk to Ryuzaki-sensei so I'm heading over there."

"Good, I need to speak with her too."

And with that the two walked to their coach's office in silence. Miyoko thought about what Sakuno's friend asked her yesterday and blushed. _"Do a lot of people think we're dating?" _It was kind of embarrassing. If people start assuming that and Tezuka hears word of it, maybe he won't want to talk to her anymore. Miyoko didn't even want to think about it. Tezuka reached up and knocked on the door. When they both heard Ryuzaki-sensei say they could come in, Tezuka opened the door for Miyoko and then proceeded to follow her in.

"Hey Baa-san!"

"Shut up."

"Awh someone's in a bad mood~~"

"Shut up, what do you want?" Miyoko chuckled to herself and motioned for Tezuka to talk first.

"I just wanted to give you the result of yesterday's block matches," Tezuka stated as he reached into his bag to give some papers to Ryuzaki-sensei. She takes a moment to read his comments that were written at the end and raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Oh ho…that's quite interesting," she said looking at Tezuka. Now Miyoko was confused. What exactly did he write?

"After Echizen won against Kaido there seems to be good tension among the regulars. If we go to the Do Tournament with this atmosphere, the result will be…" Tezuka trailed off.

"It seems like you're starting to like Echizen Ryoma-kun."

"No, I still haven't grasped his strength. I want to match him up with different types of people."

"You're still cold hearted as usual," Ryuzaki-sensei said placing her chin in her hand.

"As the captain, it's the obvious choice."

Her eyes shifted toward Miyoko. "And you Miyoko-chan, what did you think about Ryoma-kun."

"I don't care."

"Brat," Ryuzaki-sensei retorted as she reached for her cup for a drink. As soon as she took a sip, someone opened the door and yelled causing her to do a spit take.

"Obaa-chan!"

"Ouch!"

Miyoko started laughing really hard at Ryuzaki-sensei's comical reaction.

"Hahaha be careful Sakuno-chan, you almost caused your Obaa-chan's frail heart to stop beating bwahaha," Miyoko chocked out through her laughs. She lurched forward from laughing and had to put both hands on Ryuzaki-sensei's desk to keep from falling to the floor.

"Next time I'll make sure to spit in your face Miyoko-chan," Ryuzaki-sensei growled. Miyoko sobered up a little trying to keep her laughter in only letting a few chuckles out. Throughout this whole thing Tezuka stood there not really knowing how to react. His arms did instantly go out to catch Miyoko when she lurched forward from laughing. He had noticed that she was a little off the whole day. While Miyoko didn't notice his sudden concern, Ryuzaki-sensei did and that caused her to smile a little. She really needed to do something to get them together…

"Now that that's over with, what can I help you with Sakuno?"

"Ah, gomen nasai! It seems Ryoma-kun isn't around…"

"So?"

"Um so? I just thought 'where could he be?'" Miyoko and Ryuzaki-sensei looked at each other and gave each other a silent nod of agreement.

"What? Are you worried about him?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked. Miyoko walked up to Sakuno and put an arm around her shoulder. She leaned closer to the shorter girl and gave her a wide smile.

"Hmm it sounds like some has a crush on young Ryoma-sama~~" Miyoko said with raised eyebrows. Miyoko took great pleasure in watching Sakuno's face turn a deep shade of red.

"N-No really, it's not like that at all! I just thought I'd give Ryoma-kun some encouragement…" Sakuno stuttered. Miyoko gave a small laugh and stepped away from the tormented girl.

"He doesn't have a match today but since he's a tennis freak he can't do anything without a racket, even if there isn't any practice," Ryuzaki-sensei said taking another sip of her tea.

"Oh…" Sakuno stated in a defeated tone.

"Maybe he's somewhere he can practice without an opponent," Ryuzaki-sensei stated in a matter of face tone. Sakuno looked confused.

"Somewhere he can practice without an opponent…? OHH! Thank you Obaa-chan! I think I know where he is." With that, Sakuno left the room in a hurry not even bothering to close the door behind her. Miyoko let out another small laugh.

"What was that all about?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked. Tezuka surprisingly answered her question.

"All the super players in the past have some type of charisma to them. And charisma brings people to them," he explained still looking at the open door.

"Charisma, huh?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked with a little smile on her face. She looked towards Miyoko and her smile turned into an evil smirk. "Looks like your chances of becoming a super player are getting lower and lower now Miyoko-chan."

Miyoko's eyes automatically turned red with anger and the aura around her was turning darker and darker. Tezuka came up behind her and put both his hands on her shoulders to stop her from pouncing at the giggling woman.

"If there's anyone in this room without charisma it's you!" Miyoko exclaimed trying to calm herself down. She flushed when she realized that Tezuka's hands were still on her shoulder.

"Ugh I'm so angry at you I can't function. I'm going home," Miyoko huffed and stomped towards the door.

"Why did you even come here if you were just going to leave?"

"I'LL JUST ASK YOU TOMORROW BAKA."

***********BREAK***********

It was Thursday now. Time was passing slowly this week. She practiced yesterday and planned to today as well. The girl's ranking match was starting on Tuesday and she needed to prepare for that. And then in two weeks is the regional tournament. She was starting to stress out. As soon as the bell rang Miyoko had gotten up with all intentions to go play some street tennis with some teammates. They had asked her for help so she was helping them a little bit starting today.

When she was walking past the tennis courts, the first year boys were already putting up the nets for the ranking matches. She faltered in her steps when she saw Ryuzaki-sensei standing outside the court by herself. Miyoko frowned, still mad about that comment her coach had made yesterday.

Still, she couldn't stay mad at Ryuzaki-sensei for long. It made her feel weird…

"Miyoko-chan! Come stand with me over here," Ryuzaki-sensei said as she waved Miyoko over. Miyoko grudgingly walked over to her and stood beside her coach.

"Where were you going so early?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked in a confused voice.

"I was going to head over to a street courtsto teach some girls for the ranking matches next week…" Ryuzaki-sensei frowned deeply.

"Don't you want to watch the match?"

"What match?"

"Tezuka and Oishi's match of course! Did he not tell you?"

"No, he didn't mention it," Miyoko said. Why didn't he tell her? Miyoko felt like a fool. She had automatically assumed that since he wanted her to come to the ranking matches that he wanted her to see _his _matches specifically. Students were filing out of the school and coming to surround the tennis court. A lot of people were looking forward to this match. _"It seems like everyone but me knew about it." _

"What's wrong Miyoko-chan?"

"It's nothing. Just thinking," Miyoko replied. She watched as Tezuka and Oishi finally made it to the court. They warmed up a little bit then shook hands. The match had started.

Miyoko had to admit that they were both great players. However, Miyoko knew that Tezuka was not going all out. Despite that fact, he was still better than some of the regulars.

"He's still got it, huh?" Miyoko said in a bitter tone. Ryuzaki-sensei gave her a confused look. But Miyoko's tone didn't match the look on her face. She was staring at Tezuka like she was the first time she saw him all those years ago. Ryuzaki-sensei could tell that she still aspired to be like him. He was her role model. He was her inspiration.

"He's changed so much in two year. He just keeps getting better and better and better. It's like that injury never happened…" Miyoko stated as she stares intently at the match, trying to memorize every move so that she could practice it herself.

"That injury Miyoko-chan is still very much a problem. Tezuka is just very good at hiding the pain," Ryuzaki-sensei explained. "I'm sure that it will heal eventually…"

But even as she tried to reassure Miyoko, they both knew that she was lying to herself. Because not everything broken can be fixed…and Tezuka Kunimitsu was _real _broken.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thanks for all the favorites and follows (: **

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OC'S!**

Ranking matches for the girls started the beginning of last week and actually went really well. Miyoko believes that this year, she was able to round up a national's winning team. All eight players were unique and different so the team had a great variety which gave Seigaku a huge advantage. Most of the school centered their focus on the boy's team but Miyoko was positive that it would be impossible to ignore her team this year.

The ranking matches lasted for four days, a different block every day; basically identical to the boy's ranking matches. It wasn't anything too serious, but Miyoko knew that everyone that participated had trained extra hard to make the team. She felt bad for those that really wanted a spot as a regular but didn't get it. Hopefully they could make it next year.

The first day, everyone in Block A played their matches. The two chosen from that block were: Miyoko and a second year named Mizushima Risa. Risa was an extremely shy individual (the complete opposite of Miyoko) and at first Miyoko had doubts that she was going to make it through. Everyone did, honestly. She was part of the tennis team last year and her skill was adequate…not _great. _However, over the summer, the second year changed drastically. She had grown at least 15 cm and her playing had improved greatly. Her determination to win nationals was almost the same level as Miyoko's. Risa's appearance is kind of lanky looking (probably due to the fact that she was 175 cm). Despite that, she had soft features that made her approachable (unlike a certain captain). Overall, Miyoko was impressed by her skills.

The second day of matches was particularly interesting. All the Block B matches were completed and the two players selected were: Yoshida Tamiko and Yoshida Tamako. No young reader, it is not a coincidence that their last names are the same. They were in fact, twins; identical, to be more specific. Miyoko thought that they would be good for doubles, but she had yet to actually see them play together. They had told her after their matches that they can read each other to the point where they don't even need to talk to each other during a game. Miyoko didn't know if this was true yet, but it would definitely come in handy during tournaments. They would basically be unreadable. The only way you could tell the difference better the two was by looking at the color of the ribbon in their hair. Tamako wore a blue ribbon while Tamiko would wear a yellow one. They two weren't polar opposites nor were they exactly the same. In fact, they were pretty independent of each other. They had different likes and dislikes. They had different friends. And according to Ryuzaki-sensei their mother had died when they younger. Miyoko doesn't know how that's relevant to tennis but Ryuzaki-sensei insisted that it's important for her as captain to know about her teammates.

The twins were both 176 cm tall. They were probably the tallest players on the team. They were brunettes but they each styled their hair differently. Tamako would wear hers in a normal ponytail while Tamiko would wear hers in a french braid that reached her elbows.

The next day, everyone in Block C played their matches. The two chosen were Shimabukuro Azusa and Hamasaki Ayane. Miyoko obviously already knew Azusa but Ayane was someone new to the whole team. The third year had moved to Seigaku from the school Rokkaku Junior High. Ryuzaki-sensei informed Miyoko that she moved because her father found a better job. He was some big shot business man that recently found a job with a huge corporation. The name was escaping Miyoko at the moment. Anyways, Ayane's family was loaded. She told Miyoko that the only reason she decided not to go to a private school was because she believed that the people there would be too snooty for her taste. Ayane also thought that Seigaku took tennis more seriously than other schools in the area. Her way of tennis was…interesting to say the least.

Ayane had red hair that was styled into a pixie cut. Miyoko could never pull it off but it suited Ayane's features well. Freckles adorned her nose and cheeks and if you looked close enough you could see that she had some on her eyelids as well.

The fourth and last day was when everyone from (you guessed it) Block D played their matches. The two chosen from that were Wakahisa Moriyo and Sato Hina. Moriyo experienced some difficulty this year because some of the underclassmen were a bit feisty. One girl was super close to winning. She would have made it as a regular if she had beaten Moriyo because she already had one loss against the other player, Sato Hina, who became a regular. Hina was one of those players that everyone underestimated. Her short stature (164 cm) might have something to do with it but Miyoko had a different theory. Hina was hardworking. Last year, as a second year, she had almost made it as a regular. This year however, she made a comeback. Miyoko was glad that she finally achieved her goal and she thinks Hina deserves the position as a regular all the more because of how hard she worked. Hina was a normal kid. She grew up as an only child and had a tendency to speak her mind without thinking whether it was offensive or not. Her temper has gotten her into a lot of awkward situations.

Hina had black curly hair that reached her shoulders. It surrounded her heart shaped face perfectly and boys fell for her left and right. Miyoko was pretty sure that she had her own fan club… She struggled in school but when it comes to tennis she never gives up. Miyoko thinks her enthusiasm will encourage the team even more.

Overall, the ranking matches went really well. Miyoko looks forward to working with this season's new regulars. They seemed like an eccentric bunch.

Occasionally, throughout the week, she would see Tezuka and some of the other regulars come and watch some of the matches that were particularly interesting. Ryuzaki-sensei would always stand with them. Because Miyoko was captain this year, she had to attend and watch every single ranking match so that prohibited her from walking home with Tezuka. They would exchange their basic greetings in the morning, but other than that…the both of them didn't talk to one another. Miyoko would sometimes get caught staring at him in class (which was painfully embarrassing) but it made her wonder if he caught her staring because he was about to stare at her or if he could _feel _her staring at him. Did that even make sense? Well whatever, just know that it was a humiliating blow to Miyoko's pride.

Obviously, the regulars had already introduced themselves to her, hence the reason why she knew all that information. Now all she needed to do was assess their abilities even more so and see who would be compatible together and who would be better off playing singles. The preliminaries for the district tournament were just around the corner and Miyoko wanted her team to be ready for anything. In fact, Ryuzaki-sensei wanted to meet her and Azusa afterwards so that they could plan everything out for it. It shouldn't take too long.

Practice today was tough, even for Miyoko. She was pushing herself harder than she ever had before. This was her last chance to win the nationals and she wasn't going to bring this team down anymore. It was only the preliminaries and Miyoko had faith that her team could get through, but there was always that feeling of uncertainty that kept crawling up on her.

"Everyone gather round!" Miyoko shouts. Everyone stops what they're doing and circles around their small captain. "Good practice today. I'll let you guys off the hook though since it's the last practice before the tournament. I expect all the regulars to be prepared and I hope to see many of you there. Don't forget to put the nets and balls away. Dismissed!"

With that, the fatigued team grudgingly started cleaning up. Miyoko quickly puts on her Seigaku track suit and packs away her tennis racket. She shoulders her bag and waits for Azusa outside of the tennis courts. Once Azusa finally meets her there, Miyoko is tired _and _annoyed.

"Took you long enough, you _snail._"

"You know, that's really offensive coming from you. How would you feel if I called you the s-word?"

"Shit?"

"NO, THE OTHER S-WORD!"

"OH, I get it. And yeah that would hurt my feelings. I apologize," Miyoko grins at their banter. It's something she's missed over the past couple weeks. She had just been so busy with ranking matches and training that she never really got to hang out with Azusa. She has missed the baka.

"I HEARD THAT YOU MIDGET."

Miyoko really needs to stop talking out loud. It's going to kill her one day.

* * *

Once they reached Ryuzaki-sensei's office, Miyoko didn't even bother knocking on the door. Both her and Azusa walk into in the room but stop short when they see that Ryuzaki-sensei was already talking with Tezuka and Oishi. Honestly, considering Miyoko's luck, she should've seen this coming. Tezuka's eyes meet hers across the room and she could feel her cheeks heating up. She fiddled with her short hair nervously and looked away from his gaze.

"Oi, can't you two imbeciles knock once in a while?! What if I was changing?" Miyoko and Azusa sweatdrop comically. Ryuzaki-sensei has problems.

"Yes because it makes sense that you would be changing in your _office._"

"Oh shut up Azusa-chan, you never know," Ryuzaki-sensei replied waving her hand in a dismissive way. Miyoko takes that as their que and leaves the room dragging a reluctant Azusa behind her.

"We'll wait outside until you guys are finished…" Miyoko mumbles before shutting the door making sure that her eyes were glued to the floor. She tiredly sits on the floor and leans her back against the wall. She spreads her legs out in front of her. They felt like mush after todays practice. Azusa sits beside her but keeps her legs pressed close to her chest.

"So, you going to tell me what happened with you and Tezuka-san just now?" Miyoko chokes. With wide eyes she looks at Azusa. She rolls her eyes at Miyoko's antics, "Come one, stop being so dramatic. There's obviously something there, so out with it."

With those words she gives Miyoko an irate expression. Now Miyoko has never told anyone about her "crush" on Tezuka. Of course Ryuzaki-sensei figured it out but other than her, no one knows. Azusa knew that she admired him as a tennis player, but she's not aware of Miyoko's feelings for him. If Miyoko had it her way, Azusa would _never _know. She had every intention to take her feelings to the grave. Miyoko couldn't even fathom saying the words out loud; just the thought of it makes her nauseous.

"It's nothing Azusa, we've just been walking home together-"

At this Azusa's eyes widen.

"-but that's IT! I promise!"

"You _like _him!" Miyoko's face turns red in record time.

"Would you _shut up_? The whole school can hear your stupid voice…"

"I'm right Miyoko, and you kn-"

Azusa is interrupted by the sound of Ryuzaki-sensei's door opening. They both look up at the tall regulars who seem to tower over their sitting figures. Tezuka walks towards Miyoko with every intention to help her up but she stands up before he could offer his hand to her. Miyoko, however, was oblivious to his intent and innocently dusted herself off. Tezuka is not deterred by her actions, mostly because he convinced himself that she probably would've seen the offered hand as a sign of him thinking of her as weak. She just seemed liked the kind of person that would rather do everything by themselves. Why was he even thinking of this with such depth?!

"I'll be waiting outside," he announces to Miyoko before he leaves the three of them standing in the hallway. Miyoko almost faints. Her lack of answer probably gave the impression that she didn't mind. Well she didn't really…but maybe he shouldn't have said that in front of Oishi and Azusa. She could practically feel the evil glint in Azusa's eye and she could definitely see Oishi's small smirk and raised eyebrows. Miyoko ignores their existence and trudges into the office.

"So, let's talk tournament," Ryuzaki-sensei says, not even bothering with pleasantries. "Have any idea who's playing what?" Miyoko nods and motions for Azusa, who had shortly followed her in, to show her the list.

"It's not official but I do think that this set up will do for the preliminaries," Miyoko explains as Ryuzaki-sensei eyes the paper. Sumire honestly couldn't find a single thing wrong with it. Considering Miyoko didn't have a lot of time to see how everyone worked together, this would do. Sumire speaks her thoughts and Miyoko and Azusa are pleased to hear it. They worked really hard this past week to make that list.

"Azusa you may leave now but I have a couple things to discuss with Miyoko before she can go," Ryuzaki-sensei says pulling some papers out of her desk drawers. Azusa smirks at Miyoko, and she knows what's about to come even before the words leave her mouth.

"I guess I won't be waiting on you since ya know, your boy toy has it covered…" she says with a sly smirk as she _glides _towards the door. Miyoko wanted to die.

"Boy toy?" Ryuzaki-sensei asked as amusement lit her wrinkled features. Miyoko covers her face in embarrassment.

"Awh is the tough captain embarrassed?" Azusa asks from the doorway, inconspicuously hiding her guffaws behind her hand. Miyoko then _literally _kicks her out the door and slams it in her face. She has had enough embarrassment today. Miyoko turns her attention to her coach who still adorned a small smirk on her face.

"Don't even start it."

"Okay okay, I get it," Ryuzaki-sensei says before standing up from her chair and walking around to the front of her desk. She was getting a bit restless sitting in her chair all day long.

"What is it you wanted to tell me?" Miyoko asks.

"Before I tell you, I want you to promise me that you won't freak out," Ryuzaki-sensei says with a straight face. Miyoko nods slowly to let her know that she won't freak out.

"I got hold of a personal trainer for you…"

* * *

Miyoko walks outside, still mulling over the conversation that her and Ryuzaki-sensei had. She sees Tezuka waiting by the gate without Azusa and Oishi so she assumed that they had both already left. She gives him a small smile, still immersed in her own thoughts.

"Hey," she states. He nods in reply and they both start on their way. After a while, Tezuka finally speaks.

"Shimabukuro-san told me that Ryuzaki-sensei wished to speak to you privately." Miyoko startles out of her thoughts and replies to Tezuka's unspoken question.

"Ah, she wanted to tell me that she contacted a personal trainer for me," she explained. They were at a stop light surrounded by a sea of people. Miyoko moves closer to Tezuka so she wouldn't get in anyone's way. He fortunately didn't notice, but that doesn't mean that it didn't affect _her. _

"And do you know who she is?" he asked, slightly tilting his head so he could get a glimpse of Miyoko's reaction. Her face scrunches up in thought.

"Yeah I do. She works at a bakery that I frequent often. Apparently she was some kind of big shot tennis player before she tore her ACL. Her name's Yoshida Yuka."

Tezuka's steps falter when he hears her name. "You've never heard of her?" he asks. Miyoko shakes her head.

"No, not until Ryuzaki-sensei mentioned it today. She did tell me that Yoshida-san was very good at tennis before her injury. She even made it to the US Open in 1998," Miyoko explains. "I never thought that she could be a professional tennis player, she has always seemed so laid back at the bakery…" Miyoko ponders.

"I'm surprised Ryuzaki-sensei didn't tell you," Tezuka states. Miyoko frowns.

"Tell me what?"

"That Yoshida Yuka used to be one her pupils alongside Echizen Nanjirou," he explains as they slowly make it towards their destination. Miyoko's not even surprised. Ryuzaki-sensei hasn't told her a lot of surprising things that she should be _bragging _about so she could just add this to the list. "So you accepted?"

At first Miyoko is confused by the question. But it then dawns on her that he means whether she accepted Yoshida Yuka as her new sensei. She couldn't really think of anyone by Ryuzaki-sensei as her trainer to be honest.

"I told her I would think about it…" Miyoko says as she kicks a stray rock on the sidewalk. They had stopped walking because they were almost to the Ministop where they normally would split. Both of them had unanimously agreed to stop so that they could talk more. Miyoko decided to sit down on a bench and Tezuka sat down beside her, leaving an appropriate amount of distance between them (unfortunately).

"I think you should take it, especially since you have the opportunity to do so," he says. His words make her feel selfish. Here she was talking to an injured player who would kill to have things back to normal and she's complaining how she has an opportunity to practice with a former professional tennis player. Miyoko can be really insensitive sometimes.

"You're right. I'm being stupid," she said with a breathy laugh. The wind blows her hair in her face and directly into her mouth because that's just how she rolls. She looks to her left so she could get a better look at Tezuka and found him already staring at her. Miyoko reverts back to her frozen self just like earlier when she met his eyes in Ryuzaki-sensei's office. His brown eyes were _burning _into hers and all she could do was stutter a question at him before she made a complete fool out of herself.

"H-How's your arm?"

Tezuka seems surprised by this question. Figures, considering the fact that he only talks about that kind of stuff to Ryuzaki-sensei and Oishi. Miyoko had never brought his arm into any of their conversations because she didn't feel like she had the right too. But she wanted him to trust her. Miyoko wanted to assure Tezuka that he could _talk _to her. Not just about tennis related things, but anything. His silence though told her that maybe it wasn't such a great idea to ask him so suddenly.

"I'm sorry, that was rude of me. It's not business anyway, it was personal and I should have just lef-"

"I'll tell you one day," Tezuka interrupts her rambling. He wasn't looking at her anymore which calmed her down a little but his response still made her anxious. Miyoko decides that she won't approach the subject again until he mentions it himself. They sit in silence for a bit before Miyoko decides to break it.

"Do you have any siblings Tezuka-kun?"

"No."

"Hmm that's a shame. It must get pretty lonely." He shrugs his shoulders showing that he's indifferent.

"A little, but I have my grandfather and my parents so I'm not alone." Miyoko nods her head in understanding. He has a close relationship with his grandfather just like Azusa. Maybe this is why he seems older than normal (despite his looks). He has grown up people that are older and wiser than him. "Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah I have an older sister in her 3rd year of high school and a younger brother who's going to be a first year at Seigaku next year," Miyoko explains.

"Do they play tennis as well?" he asks. Miyoko chuckles lightly at this.

"No they suck. I'm the only person in my family who plays. My dad is interested in watching it occasionally," she says. "He might even know my new trainer's name! I'll have to ask him later tonight."

"When are you meeting up with her?" Tezuka asks. He had made himself more comfortable on the bench, although to everyone else he probably didn't look relaxed. Miyoko observed his loose hands that were resting on his knees and the way that his neck craned a little down. It was these small details that suggested that he was relaxed…or bored…or maybe tired. She wasn't exactly sure.

"This Saturday, that's when your preliminaries are isn't it?" Miyoko asked a frown adorning her face. She wanted to watch them but she guesses it not really that important for her to be there. And she didn't want it to seem like she was obsessing over Tezuka…who probably won't even play.

"Yeah it is."

"Well I'm sure you guys will get through with no problem!" Miyoko exclaims while giving him a thumbs up. She gets up and stands in front of his sitting figure. Even while sitting Tezuka was still pretty tall. Miyoko gives him a big grin to assure him she 100% meant what she said.

"I should be getting home right about now though, thanks for walking with me again and I'll be sure text you when I get there!" Miyoko says with a small chuckle. She waves goodbye and turns abruptly with every attention to walk straight home.

* * *

"_I'm home!"_

"_Good."_

* * *

Saturday

Why must Miyoko's dad be so forgetful?! Like who forgets their lunch at home? It's literally the only thing that matters throughout the entire day and he forgets it at home. And now Miyoko is stuck with the responsibility to take it to him.

It was convenient actually because she was supposed to meet with Yoshida-san at a tennis court close to the hospital her dad worked at. The problem is that her dad's hospital is pretty far away from where they live. She would have to take a bus to get there which was a nuisance itself.

When she finally reached Sougoubyouyin United Hospital she was exhausted. Miyoko hated the bus; it made her nauseous (just like about any other form of transportation). And there could be some very sketchy people as well.

"Oi, Miyoko!" Miyoko turns her head to the voice and sees her dad walking up to her. She had called him earlier and told him that she was bringing him his forgotten bento.

"Otou-san! How could you forget your bento?" Miyoko muttered as she walked towards the tall man. Yes, she said _tall. _Her dad was nearly two meters long and literally towered over Miyoko. Her brother had inherited his height while Miyoko and her sister inherited their mother's…_short _stature.

"Gomen, I was in a hurry this morning and it completely left my mind," he says sheepishly. He eyes Miyoko's tennis bag, "Going somewhere?"

"Yeah I have practice with that personal trainer I was talking about earlier…" Miyoko hated reminding him of this fact because every time she mentioned Yoshida Yuka's name in his presence he would get extremely excited. He was ecstatic that Miyoko got to train with her, more so because he used to be such a huge fan of her.

"Oh that's today?! Why didn't you mention it earlier? I could have come and watched," he mumbles dejected.

"Absolutely not."

"You remind me so much of your mother."

"I'm leaving now."

"She used to say that a lot too…"

"Oh my god Otou-san," he gives a hearty laugh.

"I'm just kidding Miyoko! So, I'll see you later tonight. And thanks again for bringing me my bento," with that said, Miyoko's dad walks back into the hospital. Miyoko looks at the time on her phone and realizes that she should be meeting Yoshida-san soon. So she starts heading towards the courts, not wanting to be late and making a bad impression. Now if it was the Old Hag she wouldn't even be having these thoughts.

Miyoko couldn't help but feel excited. She loved learning new things and it's always great to have another opinion. And Yoshida-san would be a great person to test her Shinkiro on. Miyoko knew absolutely nothing about her playing style (mostly because she was too lazy to look it up) so it'd be interesting to test it out on her. Well, that is _if _Yoshida-san will be practicing with her. That's another thing that Miyoko was confused about, how exactly will she be able to help her if she couldn't actually _play _with her.

These thoughts were still running through her mind when she approached some people playing on tennis courts, she believes it's called Shikinomori Sports Park. It almost seemed like a tournament was taking place. Wait…tournament…Saturday…Tezuka?

Miyoko quickly glanced at the players on the court and saw that it was indeed Seigaku's team playing. She walked towards the fence that separated the fans from the court and examined the game that was going on, all thoughts of meeting up with Yoshida-san out the window.

Echizen Ryoma was playing a match against some guy from Fudomine. She had no idea who this guy was but he wasn't someone to scoff at. He had long dark blue-black hair that reached his chin and framed his fair skin. Even though he was in a middle of match that he seemed to be losing he still had a calm and straight face. And he wasn't necessarily losing…but he wasn't winning either. Does that even make sense? Whatever…The point is that he's good, okay?

The audience was at awe at the pace that the two players were going at. Miyoko was sure that they couldn't keep this up all game and that eventually, one of them is going to cave into the pace. Miyoko watches as Ryoma returns a particularly difficult shot by switching his racket to his right arm— Nitōryū. Miyoko herself knew this move. It was a pain in the ass to learn but she did it.

However, as the game continued, Ryoma started giving the guy from Fudomine a harder and harder time. It was starting to seem like the other guy was starting to lose spirt probably surprised by how a first year is beating him 4-1. On second thought, Miyoko was sure that this guy was up to something. His moves seemed odd and it looked like he was observing Ryoma's moves closer than ever. When Ryoma failed to receive one of his attacks, Miyoko finally understood what happened. By hitting topspin and slice shots to the forehand and backhand multiple times, Ryoma's muscles had retracted leaving space for numbness to enter. It was a clever move, Miyoko will give him that. But the move was still looked far from perfect.

After the score reached 40-0 Ryoma, Miyoko assumes, had enough of the guy's attack and decided to react by _spinning _when in his numb state. This was beyond stupid and Miyoko knew that it would lead to nothing but pain. Miyoko's eyes widen as she sees Ryoma's racket fly out of his hand and literally _snap in half_. She shoots out of her seat when she saw the debris of his racket fly right towards his face.

Many people were muttering around her and some had also stood up to see what happened more clearly. Ryoma was on his hands and knees and blood was splattered on the floor. His hand was covering his eye and blood was dripping down it. Miyoko watches as Sakuno (who she had no idea was here) ran on the court similar to the way she did back when Miyoko first watched Ryoma play. And he once again told her to get off the court like the jerk he is.

Ryuzaki-sensei eventually convinces Sakuno to get off the court and she grudgingly does so. Miyoko understands her concern; even from this far away she could tell it was pretty serious. Miyoko's father had taught her many things about being a doctor, mostly because she wanted to be one when she older. So with the knowledge that her father had provided her, Miyoko knew that that injury was going to be a hassle to deal with.

"First things first we need to stop the bleeding and someone get the first aid kit!" Ryuzaki-sensei orders. These are the only words that Miyoko is able to hear from their conversation, probably due to the fact that Ryuzaki-sensei basically screamed it. Surprising Miyoko, Ryuzaki-sensei looks right at her and screams, "Miyoko get your butt down here and fix him!"

Miyoko splutters in embarrassment. It was obvious that Ryuzaki-sensei was speaking to her, so she could feel the eyes of everyone on her (including Tezuka for your information). She covers her face with one hand and tries to find a way down to Ryoma. _"God damn Obaa-chan can't keep her mouth shut. They're more than capable of stopping a little bleeding." _

She opens the gate and makes the walk of shame to the benches on the other side of the courts (pretty sure she saw Kaido flinching at the sight of her). Once Miyoko made it to them, she could see the looks of worry on the team's faces. Her eyes soften at their concern. She pointedly didn't look at Tezuka because that would be just plain awkward. Awkward because she _specifically _told him that she wouldn't be able to come to the tournament and now there she was…at the tournament. Ugh she sucks.

Anyways, Miyoko needs to be serious now. She had a dieing (not really) patient in her hands and he needed her full attention. Ryoma's sitting on the bench with a neutral expression with his eyes closed, as if his tennis racket didn't just completely demolish his face (which it did). Miyoko, completely ignoring everyone's heated stares, put a finger under Ryoma's chin and tilted his head back to get a better look at the wound. She tched in annoyance; this wasn't going to be easy.

"Troublesome…I'm going to need you to keep your head just like this Ryoma-san. Is it alright if I call you that?" He hummed in what Miyoko was going to take as a yes. "Can someone bring me some water and a first aid kit?"

She hears shuffling in the back as someone hurries to get her what she needs. Miyoko takes this time to further examine the cut on his eye. Oishi brings the first aid kit over and she begins her work.

"I'm gonna need you to open your left eye for one second," Miyoko says and she cleans the blood surrounding his eye. He does so and she examines his eyeball to see if it was affected in any way. Miyoko hums thoughtfully to herself. She turns to Ryuzaki-sensei and Tezuka and addresses them in what she says next.

"There seems to be nothing wrong with the eyeball. Although, his eyes nerves are a completely different story…" Miyoko explains. She goes back to work straight after, trying to stop the excessive bleeding. In the background she can hear another conversation between the other regulars.

"No offence, but why does Miyoko-senpai need to take care of Echizen?" she hears Momoshiro say, "We could've done it easily."

"Miyoko's father is a doctor and she once told me that she's had proper training for these types of training, she's probably the best we're going to get at the moment," Ryuzaki-sensei explains. Miyoko hears a series of "ohhhs" and "ahhhs" and "Miyoko-senpai is so cool." She hears footsteps approach her and she glances at them shortly to see who it is. It's Tezuka.

"How's it looking Hamada?" Miyoko purses her lip and she thought of the best possible way to break the news to them.

"The bleeding doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon Tezuka," Miyoko explains as she uses another cleaning bandage. Pretty sure she heard Kamawura faint.

"Oi Echizen, I'm putting the broken pieces of your racket in your back okay?" Momoshiro exclaimed. Ryoma starts talking while Miyoko still has her hand over his eye.

"Momo-senpai!"

"Huh?"

"Take out the spare while you're at it." Everyone seems shocked by his request but Momoshiro seems to understand his recklessness and agrees to bring it to him. Oishi, who was standing behind me, wasn't so understanding.

"It's absurd to play with that injury!"

"Don't force yourself, it's too much of a handicap," Inui said, backing Oishi up. Then to make it worse, the umpire even came up to them and spoke his concerns.

"Echizen-kun, you don't really plan on playing more do you? I can't let you play unless you stop bleeding. Coming this far, you must be disappointed, but you must give up. Okay?" Ugh is he trying to rile Ryoma up? Those words sounded more of a challenge than advice, even in Miyoko's ears. Ryoma gently pushed her hand away and stood up. Miyoko is about to reprehend him for that but he raises his arm and rubs his eye against his shirt. She can only watch. The blood soaks into his blue and white jersey and temporarily stops the bleeding.

"I'll play," Ryoma says as he stares the umpire right in the face.

"But you…"

"The bleeding stopped," Ryoma says matter of factly. Miyoko stands up to her full height (which isn't much by the way) and slowly walks toward Ryoma. From the corner of her eye she sees Kaido take a few steps away from the group as if he knows what's about to happen. Miyoko raises her head and comically smacks Ryoma on the back of his head. _"This kid is so stupid…" _She can feel the shock of everyone around her (except for those slight few who knew about Miyoko's evil side).

"You retarded _fool_, bullshit it stopped! You're a stubborn idiot," Miyoko whispers viciously, so that the umpire won't hear about his bluff.

"Ow, that hurt! And is being stubborn necessarily a bad thing?" Ryoma replies as he rubs the back of his head. Miyoko stares him down.

"A stubborn _idiot _is a bad thing. If you had waited two seconds, I would have been able to tell you that I can stop the bleeding," Miyoko grumbles motioning for Ryoma to sit back down.

"You can stop it?" Tezuka asks curiously.

"Only temporarily," Miyoko explains as she gets to work once again. "Unfortunately, for Ryoma it's going to hurt real badly. You ready kid?" Ryoma's eyes widen at her warning, but nonetheless he nods. By the time Miyoko is done, Ryoma had only cried out a couple times, which wasn't too bad considering the severity of the cut. Miyoko gives credit to herself for being a good doctor (?). She examines her handiwork.

"It looks like an eyepatch," Miyoko says with a small chuckle. Ryoma raises his hand to his face in amazement.

"It stopped bleeding…" his awe filled voice makes Miyoko's ego radar go off the charts.

"Remember Ryoma-san, this is only temporary. I would say it will hold for maybe 15 minutes…max," Miyoko explains as she stands up from her crouching position once again. Ryoma then goes up to the umpire and repeats once again that he wants to play. Miyoko blocks them out as she focuses on cleaning up the mess she made. However, it does catch her attention when Momoshiro tries to hand Ryoma his racquet and Oishi stands in their way. Tezuka grabs the racquet from his grasp.

"Buchou…" Momoshiro says, just as surprised as everyone else. Tezuka walks towards Ryoma and hands him the racquet himself.

"Ten minutes. Ten minutes, if the match isn't decided by then, you'll forfeit," he explains. Oishi seems surprised by his words. "Got it?" Ryoma grabs the racquet with a smile.

"More than enough time!" Oishi sighs, giving up on changing his mind. Miyoko smiles at his next words.

"Echizen, go! But don't overdo it." Miyoko chuckles lightly at this, finding it the perfect time to make fun of the vice-captain.

"Oho, who knew that Oishi was such a mommmm…?" Miyoko says with a fox like grin adorning her face. Oishi's face turns red at her teasing.

"Hamada-san!"

"Nani? I couldn't help myself," Miyoko says sticking her tongue out in a childish way. She watches as Kaido throws Ryoma's hat at him.

"You forgot something," he says in that annoying tone. Miyoko didn't know why he annoyed her so much. Ryoma is surprised at first by his actions but just puts his hat on.

"Thank you, senpai," he says while walking back onto the court.

"Hey Kaido, why are standing so far away from everyone?" Takashi asks curiously. Miyoko grins to herself while she moves her head in Kaido's direction.

"Yeah Kaido? Scared of a little blood?" Momoshiro taunts.

"_More like that tiny evil girl…" _

Miyoko smiles at their interactions. It reminded her of her team so much, but it also reminded her that their tournament was only a couple days away. Hopefully, nothing too serious happens like this. She takes her phone out and checks the time and then proceeds to _scream. _Tezuka is by her side in a second.

"What is it?" he asks, a sense of urgency in his voice. Miyoko looks at him in horror. If it was any other given circumstance she would be ecstatic at his concern. But this wasn't that circumstance.

"I need to go _now. _I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M ALREADY 20 MINUTES LATE!?"

"Wait, are you talking about meeting Yuka-chan?" Ryuzaki-sensei asks.

"YES!" Miyoko exclaims in regret. Ryuzaki-sensei literally kicks her in the back and when Miyoko looks up at her face she almost _dies. _Miyoko has never seen a face so terrifying in her entire life, this rivals even her mother's which is saying a lot.

"YOU HAD ONE CHANCE MIYOKO, NOW GO AND BEG FOR MERCY FROM POOR YUKA-CHAN," Ryuzaki-sensei says as she points right at Miyoko making her cower in fear. Miyoko scrambles up and starts _sprinting. _She stops and turns toward Tezuka, all of a sudden serious.

"Text me the results, okay?" He nods his head once to show that he heard her. She then proceeded to run like her life depended on it.

* * *

"So you guys text each other huh?"

"Shut up and watch."

"H-HAI!"

**A/N: Wooowwww this chapter is supper long! Thought you guys deserved it since I've basically been neglecting this fanfiction. But don't worry, I should be updating more since I have so much time haha :P **

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed! We're almost to 100 follows, that's like crazy :O**

**Sorry for any grammatical errors!**


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